Medical science, social attitudes and demographic pressures are creating calls for liberalized laws on euthanasia and assisted suicide. The League supports Church teaching that life is sacred from conception to natural death, and participates as much as possible in media debates, parliamentary hearings and court cases on life issues. The Pontifical Academy for Life’s document: Respect for the Dignity of the Dying (Dec. 9, 2000) summarizes much of the Church’s teaching on end of life care.
The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops marked Divine Mercy Sunday (April 15, 2007) with the release of Let me go to the house of the Father, a brochure about Church teaching on euthanasia. The title was taken from the last words of Pope John Paul II, who died April 15, 2005. Although previous attempts to legalize euthanasia in Canada have failed, it is likely that new proposals will be put forward.