Assisted dying: the Senate rejects for the third time, the parliamentary loophole is closed

Context

We described last week the adoption in third reading by the National Assembly, on June 30, 2026, of the bill known as the "aid to die" proposal. The text was back before a Senate that had already, on two occasions, refused its architecture: insufficient conscience clause, extended access device, assumed confusion between palliative care and lethal act. The vote of July 8 has just rendered its verdict.

The Facts

The Senate, seized in third reading, rejected without debate the text transmitted by the Assembly (Le Salon Beige, July 8, 2026). This is its third consecutive rejection. The Social Affairs Committee had already, on July 1st, adopted a motion of prior rejection. Several senators explicitly refused "to be the cover for an extreme text" and interpellated the Prime Minister. Simultaneously, a note relayed by the Catholic press recalls that a Catholic who actively cooperates in the adoption of such a text would objectively place himself outside of Eucharistic communion.

Doctrinal Analysis

The magisterium is unequivocal here. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (n° 2277) qualifies euthanasia as "a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect of the living God". Evangelium vitae (n° 65) speaks of a "grave violation of the Law of God". Canon 915 refuses Holy Communion to those who obstinately persist in a "grave manifest sin": the reminder of the doctrine is not a disciplinary threat, but the statement of constant canon law. The senatorial refusal de facto protects the conscience clause of caregivers and confessional institutions, a sine qua non condition for the concrete exercise of the moral non licet.

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

The battle is not won. The shuttle can continue with a final reading in the National Assembly, with the risk of a forced passage. The Little Sisters of the Poor have publicly stated that they would close their homes if the collective conscience clause were not guaranteed. It is the entire capacity of Christian hospitality for the elderly and vulnerable that is at stake.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

Three angles remain little discussed. First, the QPC: several jurists are preparing appeals based on the right to life (art. 2 ECHR). Then, the void regarding persons under guardianship: Belgium, our neighbor, now debates euthanasia for persons who are conscious but "incapable of deciding for themselves" - a predictable trajectory. Finally, the absence of a serious assessment of palliative care, barely 30% of the need covered according to IGAS.

To Meditate and Act

"Do not be afraid, open, open wide the doors to Christ" (John Paul II, October 22, 1978). The conscience clause is won in the parishes, with the senators of one's constituency. Write, fast, pray for the sick. Take care of the dying: it is the concrete Christian presence that makes the euthanasia law culturally unnecessary.