Assisted dying: the Senate also refers the matter to the Council, the post-vote organization begins

Context

We had followed, with the fil aide-a-mourir-france-2026, the final adoption of the law by the National Assembly on July 15, 2026, and the immediate referral to the Constitutional Council by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. On July 20, 2026, Le Salon Beige reports that Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate, announced his own referral to the Constitutional Council. Two distinct constitutional bodies therefore request the verification of the conformity of the text, in a same movement of institutional resistance.

The Facts

Sébastien Lecornu, Prime Minister, had referred the matter to the Constitutional Council as soon as the text was adopted on July 15, 2026. On July 20, 2026, Le Salon Beige documents the parallel referral by Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate. Aleteia, on the same date, publishes an alarming analysis titled "Ensuring that those who doubt are not at risk": the High Authority of Health has prepared, since February 2026, the technical protocols for the administration of lethal substances, even though the law had not yet been promulgated. Le Salon Beige finally publishes a series of pastoral suggestions calling for organized conscientious objection in Catholic institutions and ecclesiastical mobilization.

Doctrinal Analysis

John Paul II, in Evangelium vitae of March 25, 1995, qualifies euthanasia as a "serious violation of the Law of God, in that it is a deliberate and morally unacceptable murder of a human person" (n° 65). The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in numbers 2276 to 2279, reiterates this absolute prohibition, whatever the motivations invoked. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in the letter Samaritanus bonus of July 14, 2020, specifies that formal cooperation in euthanasia constitutes "a serious sin" and that healthcare personnel have a right and a duty of conscientious objection.

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

Three immediate stakes. First, the position of the Conference of Bishops of France on the canonicity of the sacramental communion of Catholic deputies who voted for the law, a question raised by Mgr Aillet. Second, the organization of the collective conscience clause of caregivers and institutions run by congregations (Little Sisters of the Poor in particular). Third, the preparation of a case before the European Court of Human Rights based on the right to life (Article 2 of the Convention).

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

The double constitutional referral in no way suspends the technical preparation of the protocols: the State acts as if unconstitutionality were impossible. Blind spot: the fate of the advance directives of Catholic patients who explicitly refuse any assistance to die but whose family could request the application of the law. The question of the traceability of refusals remains legally unclear.

To Meditate and Act

Pray for the members of the Constitutional Council. Support the collectives of caregivers organizing the conscience clause. Write and deposit advance directives explicitly excluding any request for help to die. Reread Evangelium vitae, in particular numbers 65 to 74.