Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Vatican issue joint statement condemning euthanasia, assisted suicide (Vatican Press Office)

The Bilateral Commission of the Delegations of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews have issued a joint statement, “Jewish and Catholic Approaches to the terminally ill: The Prohibited, the Permitted and the Obligatory.”

Echoing a 2006 joint statement, the signatories said that “we repudiate the concept of active euthanasia (so-called mercy killing) and physician-assisted suicide, as the illegitimate human arrogation of an exclusive Divine authority to determine the time of a person’s death.”

“For both Jews and Christians, taking care of the terminally ill with belief, respect and love means truly to light the lamp of faith and hope at a time shrouded in darkness and a sense of solitude and abandonment for both patient and dear ones,” the signatories added.