ROME: Pope Leo XIV has defended his decision to speak publicly against assisted dying during his four-day visit to France, saying his remarks were intended to explain the Catholic Church’s teaching rather than intervene in French politics, days after he told healthcare workers in Lourdes that their role was to care for suffering people rather than end their lives.
Speaking to journalists aboard the papal flight returning to Rome on September 28, Pope Leo acknowledged that his intervention could be viewed as entering the political debate but said his primary purpose in France was to preach the Gospel and communicate what the Church believes. Reuters reported his comments after a visit during which assisted dying became one of the most prominent medical and ethical issues addressed by the Pope.
His intervention comes as France begins implementing a new legal framework that establishes a right to “aid in dying” for eligible adults with serious and incurable illnesses. The law was definitively adopted by the French National Assembly in July, reviewed by the Constitutional Council in August and promulgated by President Emmanuel Macron on August 18, 2026.
What France’s new assisted dying law actually allows
France’s Law No. 2026-794, titled the law relating to the right to aid in dying, does not create an unrestricted right for anyone who wants to die.
Instead, it establishes a legal process under which a person who meets a series of cumulative conditions may request access to a lethal substance and receive medical assistance in accordance with the law.
The legislation applies to adults who are French citizens or who reside stably and legally in France and who have a serious and incurable illness that threatens their life and is either in an advanced phase marked by an irreversible deterioration affecting quality of life or in a terminal phase.
The person must also experience suffering related to the illness that is either refractory to treatment or considered unbearable after the person has chosen not to receive or has stopped receiving treatment.
Importantly, psychological suffering alone does not qualify under the law.
The person must additionally be capable of expressing a free and informed decision. These requirements are designed to make eligibility dependent on medical condition, suffering and decision-making capacity rather than simply a personal request to end life.
The law distinguishes assisted dying from a simple request for euthanasia
One of the most important details in the French framework is how the final act is carried out.
The law defines the right to aid in dying as access to a lethal substance accompanied by healthcare professionals. The individual is expected to administer the substance themselves when physically able to do so.
If the person is physically unable to administer it, the law allows the substance to be administered by a doctor or nurse under the prescribed procedure.
This distinction is important in understanding the French model because the legislation uses the term “aide à mourir”, or aid in dying, rather than treating every case as physician-administered euthanasia.
Doctors must assess the request through a formal process
The law does not allow a single conversation between a patient and a doctor to automatically result in access.
A person must make the request to an active doctor who is not a relative, spouse, partner or beneficiary of the patient. The request cannot be made or confirmed through teleconsultation.
The doctor must explain the patient’s health condition, expected progression, available treatments and available forms of support. The patient must also be informed about palliative care and, if desired, be helped to obtain access to it.
The doctor must also offer the patient and relatives the possibility of psychological or psychiatric support and explain that the request can be withdrawn at any time.
After receiving this information, the patient formally confirms the request in writing or, where necessary, through another appropriate form of communication.
The doctor then has to verify whether the legal conditions have been met.
A multidisciplinary medical review is required
For the most consequential eligibility criteria — including the seriousness and incurability of the illness, the associated suffering and the patient’s capacity to make a free and informed decision — the law requires a multidisciplinary procedure.
The reviewing group must include the requesting doctor, another doctor who is a specialist in the patient’s illness and is not involved in treating the patient, and a medical auxiliary or healthcare assistant involved in the patient’s care, or another medical auxiliary if necessary.
Other healthcare professionals and psychologists may also be involved when appropriate.
The decision is then made by the doctor who received the request after the multidisciplinary review.
That decision must be communicated to the patient orally and in writing, with the law setting a 15-day period from the formalisation of the request for the decision.
Even after approval, the process does not immediately proceed to administration of the lethal substance.
The patient must wait at least two days after notification of the decision before confirming the request. If more than three months have passed, the doctor must reassess whether the person’s decision remains free and informed.
The patient can choose where the final act takes place
Once the request has been confirmed, the patient agrees with the accompanying doctor or nurse on the date and place for administration.
The law permits administration at the person’s home or the home of a relative, in a healthcare institution, in certain social or medical facilities or in another setting where healthcare professionals work.
The person may also be accompanied by people of their choice.
On the day, the healthcare professional must confirm that the person still wants the procedure to go ahead and must ensure that the person is not being subjected to pressure to proceed.
If pressure to proceed is identified, the procedure must be suspended and can be stopped. The law also provides for termination of the process if the patient withdraws the request, refuses administration or ceases to meet the legal conditions.
France has strengthened palliative care alongside the new law
The assisted-dying legislation is only one part of France’s recent overhaul of end-of-life policy.
In May 2026, France promulgated a separate law aimed at guaranteeing equal access to support and palliative care. The legislation strengthens access to palliative care, information for patients and consideration of the needs of relatives and caregivers.
French public authorities describe palliative care as care for people with serious illness experiencing physical, psychological or social suffering, particularly toward the end of life. It includes pain management, assessment and treatment of physical problems, attention to psychological distress and social and spiritual needs.
That parallel development is significant because the French end-of-life debate has not been framed solely around whether assisted dying should be legal. It has also involved questions about whether people facing serious illness can obtain adequate pain relief, psychological support, palliative care and dignified care at the end of life.
How the law came about
France’s debate over end-of-life care predates the 2026 legislation by several years.
President Emmanuel Macron launched a national debate on end-of-life issues in 2022, describing the subject as one involving both collective concerns and deeply personal situations. A citizens’ convention subsequently examined whether France’s existing framework was adequate and whether changes were needed.
The legislation then went through an extended parliamentary process involving the National Assembly and Senate before reaching final adoption in July 2026.
The National Assembly adopted the final text on July 15 by 291 votes to 241, with 29 abstentions, after more than a year of parliamentary consideration.
The Constitutional Council subsequently reviewed the legislation and declared it constitutional on August 14, with reservations, before the law was promulgated four days later.
Why Pope Leo intervened
Against that legal backdrop, Pope Leo’s comments in France carried particular significance.
During his September 25–28 visit, the Pope repeatedly addressed questions surrounding the protection of life and medical ethics. On September 27 at Lourdes, he told healthcare workers that their vocation was to care for suffering people rather than eliminate them.
He also called for stronger palliative-care structures and research, linking his opposition to assisted dying with a call for greater support for people living with serious illness.
The Vatican’s account of the Lourdes address makes clear that the Pope was not simply commenting on the technical provisions of the French statute. He was presenting the Catholic Church’s broader ethical position on human dignity, medicine and the protection of life.
The Catholic Church opposes assisted dying and teaches that human life is sacred. Pope Leo has also previously opposed abortion and the death penalty as part of the Church’s wider position on the protection of human life. Reuters reported that he maintained this position during his French visit.
Pope Leo says he did not cross the Church-state line
The Pope’s comments also raised a separate question: whether a religious leader had crossed into French political affairs by openly criticizing a law adopted through the country’s democratic institutions.
France has a strongly secular constitutional tradition, making the relationship between religious belief and public policy particularly sensitive.
Pope Leo said he did not believe his comments crossed the line between Church and state. He argued that he was in France primarily to preach the Gospel and explain Catholic teaching rather than participate in French politics.
The distinction matters because the debate over assisted dying is simultaneously a question of law, medicine, ethics, personal autonomy, religion and the role of healthcare professionals.
A major ethical question for medicine
For healthcare professionals, France’s new framework raises questions that extend beyond one country.
Assisted dying places issues of patient autonomy, informed consent, decision-making capacity, suffering, prognosis, medical responsibility and professional conscience directly alongside the traditional goals of medicine.
The French law attempts to address those questions through eligibility requirements, multidisciplinary assessment, mandatory information about available care, opportunities for psychological support, a reflection period and safeguards against external pressure.
At the same time, opponents of assisted dying — including the Catholic Church — argue that healthcare should remain focused on caring for suffering patients and strengthening palliative care rather than intentionally causing death. Pope Leo reiterated that position in Lourdes and urged greater investment in palliative-care structures.
Supporters of legal access, meanwhile, have framed the issue around autonomy and the ability of people with severe, incurable illness to make decisions about the final stage of their lives. The French parliamentary process and the law itself reflect that competing set of ethical and legal considerations.
What happens next in France
The immediate significance of France’s new law will now move from Parliament into healthcare practice.
Doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmacies and other healthcare professionals will have to work within the statutory framework, while patients and families will have to understand the distinction between palliative care, refusal or withdrawal of treatment and the newly established legal pathway for aid in dying.
The law also provides for professional conscience protections and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the system. Its provisions require the procedure and relevant information to be recorded for traceability and statistical purposes.
For Pope Leo, however, the debate is fundamentally an ethical and theological one. For France’s healthcare system, it is now also a question of how a newly established legal right can operate alongside medical duties, palliative care and safeguards intended to protect vulnerable patients.
That intersection — between what medicine can do, what the law permits and what different ethical traditions consider morally acceptable — is likely to keep assisted dying at the centre of international debate over the future of end-of-life care.
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