PHOTOS: Pope Francis’ first day in Mongolia

Melbourne, Australia, Oct 20, 2017 / 10:31 am (CNA).- A bill to legalize assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia was passed by Victoria’s Legislative Assembly on Friday after 26 hours of debate.

The bill will now advance to the upper house of the Australian state’s parliament, the Legislative Council, where it is expected to pass. If it is signed into law, Victoria would become Australia’s first state to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.

The bill passed in the Legislative Assembly in a 47-37 vote Oct. 20. Hundreds of amendments were proposed, but none were accepted.

Critics of the bill worry it abandons the vulnerable, among other problems.

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill is based on similar laws in the U.S. It allows adults who are terminally ill, expected to die within 12 months, and mentally competent to ask their doctor to prescribe a drug that will end their lives, the U.K.-based news site Politics Home reports. Physicians would be allowed to administer a lethal injection only when the patient is physically incapable of doing so.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, of the Australian Labor Party, had introduced the bill.

Victoria’s coroner told the members of parliament that one terminally ill Victorian was taking their own life every week because of intolerable pain.

Critics of the bill questioned a lack of detail about what lethal drugs will be used. They said there is not a requirement for a psychological assessment to determine whether the patient suffers depression, the U.K. newspaper The Guardian reports. They also cited the risk that the elderly will be coerced into committing suicide.

Backers of the bill said it would only affect a small number of people who suffer terminal illnesses. They objected that palliative care cannot deal with all pain. They also claim the bill has among the most stringent safeguards in the world.

Paul Keating, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996 and a member of the Australian Labor Party, lamented the bill’s advancement, calling it a “truly sad moment for the whole country.”

“What this means is that the civic guidance provided by the state, in our second largest state, is voided when it comes to the protection of our most valuable asset,” Keating said in a statement. “To do or to cause to abrogate the core human instinct to survive and live, for the spirit to hang on against physical deprivations, is to turn one’s back on the compulsion built into the hundreds of thousands of years of our evolution.”

Keating also wrote that “Under Victorian law there will be people whose lives we honour and those we believe are better off dead.”

Bishop Peter Stasiuk of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne said support of euthanasia and assisted suicide is “motivated by a false sense of compassion.” He wrote in an Oct. 12 pastoral letter that “Endorsing suicide as a solution to pain or suffering sends the wrong message, especially to the young. Suicide is a tragedy for the person who takes their own life, but it also seriously affects their family and community. It would be morally corrupt to legally endorse any form of suicide.”

And the Roman Catholic bishops in Victoria wrote a similar pastoral letter Oct. 9, noting that Victoria has “abolished the death penalty because we learnt that in spite of our best efforts, our justice system could never guarantee that an innocent person would not be killed by mistake or by false evidence. Our health system, like our justice system, is not perfect. Mistakes happen. To introduce this law presuming everyone will be safe is naïve. We need to consider the safety of those whose ability to speak for themselves is limited by fear, disability, illness or old age.”

In July Catholics, including Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, and leaders from several Christian denominations joined together to sign a letter protesting the proposal, charging that euthanasia and assisted suicide “represent the abandonment of those who are in greatest need of our care and support.”

In April, the local Catholic bishops said the proposal was based on “misplaced compassion.”

“Euthanasia and assisted suicide are the opposite of care and represent the abandonment of the sick and the suffering, of older and dying persons,” they said in a pastoral letter. They also invoked the commandment “You Shall Not Kill” and cited the situation in countries like Holland where there are pressures on the elderly to commit suicide.

The effort to legalize assisted suicide in Victoria has been debated for more than a year. In June 2016, a parliamentary committee recommended legalizing voluntary euthanasia.

At the time, some physicians criticized the move. They charged that some lawmakers had naïve expectations and overestimated the speed and painlessness of a euthanasia death.

They warned that the legalization risked diminishing palliative care, which they said was already underused and underfunded.

A proposal similar to the Victorian bill will be debated in New South Wales in November. Last year, the national parliament defeated a euthanasia bill, as did the parliament of Tasmania in 2013.

Australia’s Northern Territory legalized assisted suicide in 1995, but the national parliament overturned the law two years later.

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CNA Staff, Apr 7, 2020 / 03:00 am (CNA).- Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney has welcomed the acquittal of Cardinal George Pell by Australia’s High Court.

Pell was freed from prison Tuesday after the High Court decided unanimously to overturn his conviction for child sex offenses.

Fisher, who succeeded Pell as Archbishop of Sydney in 2014, said in a statement April 7: “The cardinal has always maintained his innocence and today’s decision confirms his conviction was wrong.”

He continued: “I am pleased that the cardinal will now be released and I ask that the pursuit of him that brought us to this point now cease.”

“This has not just been a trial of Cardinal Pell, but also of our legal system and culture. The cardinal’s vindication today invites broader reflection on our system of justice, our commitment to the presumption of innocence, and our treatment of high-profile figures accused of crimes.”

The archbishop acknowledged that clerical abuse had fueled anger at the Church. He said Catholic leaders could only restore trust by seeking justice for abuse survivors and safeguarding the vulnerable.

“Some will struggle with today’s decision,” he said. “Cases like these can reopen the wounds of survivors of abuse so that they feel like they are on trial too. But justice for victims is never served by the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of anyone. I hope and pray that the finality of the legal processes will bring some closure and healing to all affected.”

Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne called for prayers for both Pell and his accuser, identified through the courts as “J”. 

“I want to firstly acknowledge ’J’, who brought forward his story of abuse for examination in the courts of law,” he said in an April 7 statement. “This is a right we value and honor.”

“I also acknowledge Cardinal Pell who has steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout. Rightly, he has been afforded the full possibilities of the judicial system. This decision means the cardinal has been wrongly convicted and imprisoned, and he is now free to live his life peaceably within the community.”

Archbishop Comensoli said he would re-dedicate himself and his archdiocese to listening to abuse victims, protecting young people and encouraging faithful clergy.

“Let us pray for ‘J’ and his family; pray for Cardinal Pell and his family; pray and work for survivors of abuse; and build a Church that is centered on God’s love for each person, with a special care and concern for the weakest, the most vulnerable, the most hurt,” the archbishop said.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked to comment on the High Court verdict while holding a press conference on the coronavirus. 

“The High Court, the highest court in the land, has made its decision and it must be respected,” he said.

Daniel Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, the state in which Pell was tried, said he had no comment on the High Court’s decision.

“But I have a message for every single victim and survivor of child sex abuse: ‘I see you. I hear you. I believe you’,” he said.  

Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who visited Pell in jail and supported him throughout his legal ordeal, said: “Today’s just a day to let the High Court judgment speak for itself.”

Andrew Bolt, a Sky News host and columnist, described Pell’s conviction in 2018 as “the greatest miscarriage of justice in Australian history.”

Bolt, an outspoken critic of the case against Pell, said: “A lot of people today should be ashamed of their role in the persecution, the witch hunting and the jailing — for 404 days — of an innocent man.”

He continued: “The charges were inherently implausible and yet they were believed. And voices that spoke against this conviction were hounded down. It is a disgrace.”

He added: “There was a witch hunt in this country and we need to look at why that happened.”

[…]

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug 26, 2019 / 03:41 pm (CNA).- Two years after a surge of state-sponsored violence in Burma forced more than 1 million members of the Rohingya Muslim minority group to flee the country, the refugees are calling for international act… […]