Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Activists of the collective Yellow Safety Jacket take part in an anti-euthanasia protest on Feb. 11, 2014, in Brussels. A group of psychiatric care centers run by a Catholic religious order in Belgium has announced it will permit doctors to undertake the euthanasia of "nonterminal" mentally ill patients on its premises. (CNS photo/Julien Warnand, EPA)Activists of the collective Yellow Safety Jacket take part in an anti-euthanasia protest on Feb. 11, 2014, in Brussels. A group of psychiatric care centers run by a Catholic religious order in Belgium has announced it will permit doctors to undertake the euthanasia of "nonterminal" mentally ill patients on its premises. (CNS photo/Julien Warnand, EPA)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Belgian religious congregation is defying Pope Francis' order to stop allowing euthanasia in its psychiatric hospitals, saying that its decision to do so is fully consistent with Catholic doctrine.

In a statement Tuesday, the Belgian branch of the Brothers of Charity stood by its decision and said negotiations with church officials to resolve the standoff hadn't yielded results. It said it was open to further dialogue, but stressed it merely wanted to explain itself.

In May, the Brothers of Charity announced it would allow doctors to perform euthanasia at its 15 psychiatric hospitals in Belgium, one of only two countries — along with the Netherlands — where doctors are legally allowed to kill people with mental health problems, at their request.

To qualify, people must be in a state of "unbearable suffering," and euthanasia would only be performed if there were "no reasonable treatment alternatives," the order said. Requests would be considered with "the greatest caution" and be evaluated by at least three doctors.

The Holy See launched an investigation into the decision, which was made by the group's lay board of directors, since Catholic Church teaching forbids euthanasia. In August, the Vatican ordered the group to stop offering euthanasia and gave the members one month to comply.



The Belgian order's administrative headquarters in Rome concurred, saying euthanasia "goes against the basic principles" of the Catholic Church. The order's superior, Brother Rene Stockman, asked the Belgian religious brothers who were members of the board to write a formal letter declaring their adherence to church doctrine on the need to respect life from conception until natural death. And the Vatican gave him authority to take "necessary legal steps" to resolve the situation and improve the Catholic "identity" of the order's hospitals.

But in its statement Tuesday, the Belgian branch said it "emphatically" believes that its decision to allow euthanasia is consistent with Catholic doctrine.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Pope Leo XIV greets religious sisters during a meeting with officials and employees of the Roman Curia, Vatican City State and the Diocese of Rome in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican May 24, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Describing the Curia as the institution that preserves “the historical memory of the church,” Pope Leo called on these Vatican employees to “work together” with him “in the great cause of unity and love.”
Gerard O’ConnellMay 24, 2025
Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025