Paglia on end of life care: The greatest remedy is closeness

By Christopher Wells

The question does not essentially concern euthanasia – because put that way, it is “too dry, too cold”. The problem, on the contrary, “is knowing how to accompany, how to make this passage as painless as possible and, at the same time, less desperate”.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, speaking to reporters at the headquarters of the Pontifical Academy for Life, reflected at length on the topic of end-of-life care. In a few days he will leave for North America, traveling first to the United States and then to Toronto, Canada, at the invitation of local bishops, where he will participate in a symposium on palliative care.

Archbishop Paglia says his main concern and commitment is to provide context to a subject that is sometimes diminished or leveled by legislation. On the contrary, he asserts, “each death is different from the others and must therefore be accompanied in a personal way”.

Read the full interview below:

Mgr Paglia, how are you preparing for this conference?

The visit to Canada represents a special moment for me precisely because, in a culture like that of the West, the theme of the final stages of life must acquire a relevance that it does not yet have today. There is a risk of producing legislation which, in essence, would like to exclude the problem through cold-blooded laws, which tend to lump together very different cases, laws which might look a bit like “washing your hands”. Rather, I think it is a question that we must approach with great caution. The term “palliative care” needs to be explained very carefully. If I could use another word, I would say “accompaniment”, which removes, for example, the drama of solitude, which is not a physical pain, but a kind of inner tragedy from which we must heal.

Cured in what way?

With closeness, with affection, with interest, with love. The subject of physical pain can therefore be dramatic; and we must fight it. And in my opinion, here we should urge governments to also promote the scientific and research aspects of these treatments that accompany the end of life. We must encourage the Churches to rediscover the importance of accompaniment for an effective “good death”, which for us believers is the transition to life with Jesus.

We must also help all other religions or all people of good will, because at this last moment each of us needs to physically feel closeness. Here, in this sense, it seems important to me that the reflection is not only “euthanasia yes (or) euthanasia no”: it is too dry, too cold. The problem is knowing how to support, how to make this transition as painless as possible and, at the same time, the least desperate. This is why a great challenge awaits us regarding the very meaning of life.

There is also a path to chart, looking towards the future…

Yes, it is also an important debate for future generations. Reflecting on the end of life means above all understanding this: is it really the end of life? Quantum philosophy tells us no, because instead we remain energy. Christian Revelation tells us that death is a passage, it is not the end, one could say in a certain way the end of this earthly life, but we know from the Creed that after death human life continues. , even if it is resurrected – and unfortunately, this dimension is no longer emphasized in the sermons, although it should be rediscovered.

This is why I believe that this reflection around palliative care or the end of life is an immense issue which concerns all components of society, from the medical to the scientific and educational, from the humanist to the philosophical, including the theological and psychological.

Pope Francis said we must accompany people at the end of their lives but not cause death or facilitate assisted suicide. How is it possible?

A few years ago, at the end of an international congress, the Pontifical Academy for Life published a study on this theme, in which we highlighted ten points that describe the meaning of palliative care.

Life is a gift and it is a gift that God entrusts to us. Life therefore also belongs to us, yes, but it does not belong to us alone. The Lord has given us life with a great gift, so that we can multiply it for ourselves and for others. Indeed, if we multiply it for others we will also multiply it for ourselves. This is why Pope Francis also urges us to understand that accompanying each other in this last moment enriches everyone. Even when we cannot heal, we can still provide care, we must still provide. And even when we no longer have the means to block the path to death, which happens to everyone, there is a presence. There is no more acting, but holding hands, there is being present to show that love is stronger than the pain of death, that friendship is even stronger than death which wants to break ties. What happened at Calvary may be somewhat of an example of this.

How so?

The fact that Jesus had his mother and his young disciple at his side was certainly a comfort to him, and this mother and this young disciple heard from the one who was dying: She is your mother and he is your son. It was love that continued. The Resurrection begins there, because the death which wanted to silence Jesus was in reality a death which began to generate a new solidarity, a new brotherhood. After all, closeness is experienced from the beginning of life: when a mother gives birth to a child, there are those who welcome him, those who cut the umbilical cord, those who take care of the child and raise him together. . So, as we were born together, we must die together.

How can the Church, and the Pontifical Academy for Life in particular, constructively address the most critical opinions on these issues?

We must continue to think and talk to everyone because these perspectives are humanist perspectives. Faith enlightens them, but reason understands them. This is why the task of the Church is to try to “de-ideologize” these subjects, which are often contaminated precisely by ideologies and not by concrete support. It would take just a little reason to understand that each death is different from the others and must therefore be accompanied in a personal way. Everyone therefore needs their own words, their own gestures, their own presence. And that’s what we need to make clear. Of course, there are millions of laws, because if there are no laws, the risk is that barbarism will take over.

All this is perhaps essential, but even more is a culture that unites believers and non-believers, because being born and dying is not a Catholic question, it is everyone's business. It is therefore essential, to say the least, to find an alliance, an understanding that is as broad and common as possible. This is why I believe that one of the tasks of the Pontifical Academy for Life is precisely this: to make it credible, to make it reasonable, even this additional equipment that we can have on issues that in reality concern everyone, starting precisely from the reasonable dimension.