French President Emanuel Macron has postponed the presentation of a euthanasia bill to avoid the topic when he shakes hands with Pope Francis next week.
The pope will be in Marseille September 22-23 to participate in the “Mediterranean Meetings” organised and promoted by the Italian Bishops’ Conference. The gathering brings together some 70 bishops along with representatives from other churches and around 60 Mediterranean mayors to discuss the topic of immigration. Pope Francis will attend the final session.
Though the pope’s visit is not an official state visit, he and Macron will have two opportunities to shake hands.
Inconveniently for Macron, the Pope’s presence in France would have fallen on the day after the euthanasia bill was taken up by his cabinet, but not now since the bill has been taken off the cabinet’s schedule. Officially, it remains to be seen when the French government will take up the issue again, but French media are reporting that unofficially, Macron intends to put euthanasia legislation back on the docket as soon as the pope has left France. The cabinet will likely discuss the euthanasia bill between September 26 and 28, Le Figaro revealed.
Legalising euthanasia in France received a major impetus last April when a 184-member panel organised by the government to study the topic of euthanasia—called the French Citizens’ Convention on the End of Life—recommended allowing death on demand. With the farce of popular support established, Agnes Firmin le Bodo, French minister of the Organization of Territories and Healthcare Professionals, set about writing a bill.
As president, Macron has told everyone what they want to hear about a potential euthanasia bill.
According to media reports last spring, even before the French Citizens’ Convention on the End of Life had concluded and presented its findings to the government, Macron had privately assured a high-profile euthanasia proponent that he would bring forward a bill to allow the practice of euthanasia.
In April, after the citizens’ convention report recommended legalising euthanasia, Macron had a meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican, where he downplayed the possibility of the legalised killing of the sick and vulnerable in France, reportedly saying he did not love the word “euthanasia” and did not want to rush a debate on the topic.
It now remains to be seen whether Macron has successfully hidden his real political agenda from the Vatican or if Pope Francis will bring the topic up even in his short meeting with the French president.
