Assisted dying: Lecornu will refer the matter to the Constitutional Council, the final barrier before promulgation

Context

We had followed, week after week, the mechanical ascent of the text on "aid in dying" since its adoption by the National Assembly on June 30, 2026, despite three successive refusals by the Senate. The announcement by Sébastien Lecornu on this July 14, 2026, marks a turning point: on the eve of the final vote scheduled for Wednesday, July 15, the Prime Minister commits to seizing the Constitutional Council before promulgation, under Article 61 of the Constitution.

The Facts

According to La Croix, Lecornu intends to invoke several grounds for non-compliance: an infringement on the right to life guaranteed by the 1946 Preamble, a breach in the individual conscience clause of healthcare professionals, and the law's silence on the collective conscience clause of denominational institutions. The Little Sisters of the Poor have warned that they will close their homes rather than assume a practice contrary to their charism. The Conference of Bishops of France published a solemn communiqué the day before the vote, and Bishop Aillet warned that a Catholic deputy voting for the law could no longer, in conscience, receive sacramental communion.

Doctrinal Analysis

The Church condemns euthanasia as an intrinsically evil act. The Catechism (no. 2277) qualifies as "morally unacceptable" any action or omission "which, in itself or in intention, gives death in order to eliminate suffering." John Paul II, in Evangelium Vitae (no. 65), classifies it among crimes against human life that neither civil law nor democratic consensus can justify. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in Samaritanus Bonus (2020), recalls that the duty of conscientious objection is inseparable from cooperation in the good.

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

The constitutional referral is the last hurdle before promulgation. If the Council censures, the question returns to Parliament. If it validates, the implementing decrees will seal the new reality. Catholic institutions and Christian healthcare personnel enter a gray legal area. The individual conscience clause is indeed recognized, but its collective exercise remains fragile, exposing hospital congregations to an impossible choice.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

Lecornu's gamble is risky. The Constitutional Council rarely rules on bioethical issues on the merits, preferring self-limitation in the face of the legislator. Recall decision no. 74-54 DC of January 15, 1975, on abortion, where the Council refused to rule on the merits of the right to life. The law's silence on the collective conscience clause remains the most serious flaw, the one that directly threatens the existence of Catholic end-of-life institutions.

To Reflect and Act

This week, let us pray for Catholic parliamentarians, for the Wise Men of the Palais-Royal, for the caregivers who will tomorrow have to choose between their profession and their faith. Enlightened conscience is a duty before it is a right; the bishops have reminded us, with clarity, that this vote engages the souls of legislators as much as the legal order of the nation.