What does the Catholic Church teach about assisted dying?

The Church holds that euthanasia and assisted suicide are never morally allowed. Directive 59 of the Ethical and Religious Directives says so. It is in the seventh edition, approved in November 2025. It states that "Catholic health care institutions may never condone or participate in euthanasia or assisted suicide in any way." Patients who ask for it "should instead be given loving care, psychological and spiritual support, and appropriate remedies for pain and other symptoms."

Less well known is how the tradition reads the request itself. The 1980 Vatican declaration takes up this point. It says that "the pleas of gravely ill people who sometimes ask for death are not to be understood as implying a true desire for euthanasia." It goes on: "in fact, it is almost always a case of an anguished plea for help and love."

Palliative medicine reaches a similar view by another route. Some people with advanced cancer say they want to die. The reasons found most often are unrelieved symptoms and depression. Also fear, loss of control, and the sense of being a burden. Something can be done about each of those.

If you are thinking about ending your life, tell your oncology team. In the United States you can also call or text 988.

Sources

• National Cancer Institute — Depression (PDQ) Patient Version
• SAMHSA — 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
• National Cancer Institute — End-of-Life Care for People Who Have Cancer
• USCCB — Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, Seventh Edition