ROME – Euthanasia could soon be legalized in Uruguay and Argentina, which could have a domino effect on the most Catholic continent in the world, where the practice is banned everywhere except Colombia.

Euthanasia is the procedure by which a health professional ends a life at the request of the patient or his family, in a medical establishment.

Argentina made abortion on demand available until week 14 of pregnancy last December, reigniting debate in several countries despite the ongoing pandemic.

Colombia is the only country in Latin America where euthanasia is legal and only six countries in the world allow it: Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada and New Zealand. However, assisted suicide – when a healthcare professional gives a patient medication to end their life – is legal in several other countries.

Cardenal Daniel Sturla, Archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay, addressed the issue in his Christmas message, published earlier this week, supporting “the defense of life from conception to natural death”, and rejected any ” action that seeks death “.

The message comes as Uruguay’s parliament debates issues related to palliative care and euthanasia.

“We, as a Church, always bet on the defense of life,” said Sturla.

The prelate stressed that what the Church defends is the dignity of the person who dies of natural causes, but with “care that avoids pain, even if these can accelerate the process, but without action that seek death ”.

He also stressed that Catholic doctrine does not agree with “therapeutic cruelty, but it also does not agree with the acceleration of the death of a sick person”.

In neighboring Argentina, a project to legalize euthanasia called “Happy Death” was presented by three legislators last November. The initiative aims to regulate what it calls the “right of everyone to seek help and receive the assistance necessary to die when suffering from a serious or incurable illness, as well as from an illness. chronic ”.

The bill was not introduced by President Alberto Fernandez’s party, but local bishops are keen to know its position on the issue, and sources said Node that although the matter was on the agenda for the annual meeting that the bishops’ conference leadership had with the president on Wednesday, it was not a priority as it is not something the president can decide.

Last year, the bishops skipped the traditional meeting, due to Fernandez’s decision to push for the legalization of abortion.

Regarding euthanasia, however, Fernandez had not made it a campaign topic nor was it debated in the midterm elections held in November.

In a statement released Wednesday evening by the bishops’ conference, the prelates said the executive board “conveyed the need to care for life at all stages of its development, from conception to natural death” when they met with the president.

The bishops and the president also spoke of the country’s growing poverty, a product of both the pandemic and structural mismanagement. According to the latest report from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, nearly 44 percent of the country lives below the poverty line and 10 percent lives in extreme poverty.

“The bishops [told Fernandez] they saw an increase in violence, in part because of the anger and sadness caused by the pandemic, ”the statement said. “In addition to growing social inequalities, increasing poverty, the problem of access to housing and the educational crisis generated by the pandemic, the bishops also expressed their concern at the increase in drug use during the pandemic. “

In a series of videos highlighting the challenges the Church in Argentina will face over the next few years, conference president Bishop Oscar Ojea spoke about the defense of life, from conception to natural death.

Earlier this month, Argentina’s Council for Religious Freedom, which brings together leaders from most religious traditions in the country, including the Catholic Church, released a statement criticizing the proposed legalization of euthanasia .

“While recognizing that there are differences between us, there is a broad consensus among religious denominations on the eminent dignity of all human beings, healthy or sick, and on the duty to respect, honor and care of life, like [religions] generally worth as a fight from God, ”the council said.

The statement also describes the “good death” project as “the facilitation of assisted suicide and the elimination of chronically ill patients, including children and those with limited abilities.”