Church leaders in Kerala state, southern India, are up in arms against the state government's move to legalize euthanasia.
Media reports said the Kerala Law Reforms Commission has prepared a draft bill for legalizing euthanasia as one of its recommendations for legal reform. If the state government, a coalition of communist parties, accepts it, Kerala will become India's first state to legalize euthanasia.
The Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council has publicly opposed the move, releasing statements in the media since media reported on the draft bill in the last week of December.
The council's Family Commission chairman, Bishop Mathew Anikuzhikattil of Idukki, said the Church would use all democratic means to oppose legislation allowing euthanasia.
About 100 representatives from all 29 Catholic dioceses met on Jan. 14 in Kochi, the state's commercial center, 2,960 kilometers south of New Delhi, to discuss the draft bill. They protested the bill by burning a copy of it.
Having read the draft, Bishop Anikuzhikattil said legally sanctioning such a practice is "anti-humane and against basic principles of Christian faith." The commission is scheduled to submit the report of its recommendations to the government on Jan. 24, but it was released to media in advance.
Please pray for India and the Catholics there the catholic church is really facing a crisis in India.
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