(Brussels) Palliative care is “a work of great humanity, demonstrating the solidarity of society with those of its members undergoing hardship, showing consideration of their vulnerability and recognition of their dignity”. This is written in the “Opinion on palliative care in the European Union”, which has just been published by the Working Group on Ethics in Research and Healthcare of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE). “In our ageing societies that include a constantly increasing proportion of people suffering from chronic diseases”, palliative care needs “to be actively supported in such a way that it can be developed and respond to the growing needs” of the population. The 30-page document retraces the origins of this branch of medicine starting with the experience of British doctor Cicely Saunders who in 1967 opened the first “hospice” to treat terminally ill patients suffering from cancer. In 2003, palliative care was acknowledged as “an essential service for the population”, and since 2008, every EU Member State has had palliative care services, although these are sometimes reduced to a “handful of initiatives that are largely inadequate, given the size of their populations”. Taking as a reference the comprehensive definition of palliative care given by the WHO, the document highlights that palliative care today should “no longer be limited to end-of-life care”, but should be viewed as “supportive care”, aimed not just at alleviating physical suffering, but also at offering “support” for psychological and existential suffering.