The worldwide order of the Brothers of Charity have cut ties with 15 care homes of theirs in Belgium after the Vatican stripped the institutions of their Catholic status because euthanasia was permitted on their premises.

Brother Rene Stockman, superior general of the Brothers of Charity, the order that founded the homes, said this week that the brothers had “no choice but to remain faithful” to their “charism of charity, which cannot be reconciled with the practice of euthanasia on psychiatric patients.”

The centres were managed by the Provincial Association of the Brothers of Charity in Belgium.

In March 2017, the association announced it would implement Belgian law on euthanasia, which includes the killings of patients with “unbearable” psychiatric conditions.

The policy conflicted with both the public position on euthanasia of the Brothers and also of the Belgian bishops, and the association was asked to change it but refused.

The Brothers of Charity was founded in 1807 in Ghent, Belgium, with a charism especially to serve the elderly and the mentally ill. They also operate in Ireland providing extensive services to people with intellectual disabilities, with annual funding from the HSE.