Regulations around the so-called “end-of-life” and migration will be the focus of the meeting of the legal consultants of the European Bishops Conference, due to take place in Luxembourg from December 10^th to 12^th. The meeting will be opened on Sunday, December 10^th, in the afternoon, by cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa and president of Ccee, who will give a speech along with the local archbishop, mgr. Jean-Claude Hollerich, president of “Justice and Peace Europe”, and the apostolic nuncio to Luxembourg, mgr. Augustine Kasujja. The attendees will visit the European Court of Justice and, during their tour, they can meet and share views with some judges of the Court.
“In the last few decades – as written in a release issued by Ccee today –, moral and legal problems related to the so-called ‘end-of-life’ have remarkably increased, due to anthropological, economic, social and medical changes. In an age in which the ‘time of dying’ is becoming increasingly ‘private’, the Catholic Church reminds us of the need to support people who have reached the end of their life on earth. For the Church, dying does not mean the end of life, it means embracing eternal life. So, what is often called ‘end-of-life’ is in fact only a time that needs preparation and support, not an experience to be lived in loneliness. Faced with the multiple approaches and issues related to the ‘end-of-life’ (euthanasia, assisted suicide, advance directive, living will, palliative care, futile medical care), the Church appeals to the responsibility of several players: first and foremost the person, but also doctors, relatives, the community and ultimately the State. In Luxembourg, the legal consultants will address the current or prospective laws and will reflect on what ethical standards law-makers should take as guidance”. The meeting will also be focussed on the regulation of migration to European countries. “The urgent need – Ccee writes on, in its release – for organised policies that can be translated into a legal framework that can, in turn, protect both the migrants and the host communities is now obvious. Once again, the multiple issues related to migration (family reunions, refugee status, asylum procedures, citizenship, labour laws, social security and welfare systems, children’s situation…) demand to be carefully investigated, so that the political and legal agenda can provide the requisite acceptance and social inclusion, without infringing on essential values and rules, such as the protection of human dignity”.