Editing Assisted suicide (section)

=====Catholicism=====
The [[Catholic Church]] acknowledges the fact that moral decisions regarding a person's life must be made according to one's own conscience and faith.<ref name=pmid11655313>{{cite journal | vauthors = Donovan GK | title = Decisions at the end of life: Catholic tradition | journal = Christian Bioethics | volume = 3 | issue = 3 | pages = 188–203 | date = December 1997 | pmid = 11655313 | doi = 10.1093/cb/3.3.188 }}</ref> Catholic tradition has said that one's concern for the suffering of another is not a sufficient reason to decide whether it is appropriate to act upon voluntary euthanasia. According to the [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]], "God is the creator and author of all life." In this belief system God created human life, therefore God is the judge of when to end life.<ref name=pmid11655313/> From the Catholic Church's perspective, deliberately ending one's life or the life of another is morally wrong and defies the Catholic doctrine. Furthermore, ending one's life deprives that person and his or her loved ones of the time left in life and causes grief and sorrow for those left behind.<ref name=Harvey2016>{{cite journal |vauthors=Harvey K |title=Mercy and Physician-Assisted Suicide |journal=Ethics & Medics |year=2016 |volume=41 |issue=6 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.5840/em201641611}}</ref>

[[Pope Francis]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/pope-francis-21152349|title=Pope Francis Biography|date=20 April 2021|access-date=7 December 2016|archive-date=3 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403101052/https://www.biography.com/people/pope-francis-21152349|url-status=live}}</ref>  affirms that death is a glorious event and should not be decided for by anyone other than God. Pope Francis insinuates that defending life means defending its sacredness.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cherry MJ |title=Pope Francis, Weak Theology, and the Subtle Transformation of Roman Catholic Bioethics |journal=Christian Bioethics |date=6 February 2015 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=84–88 |doi=10.1093/cb/cbu045 }}</ref> The Catholic Church teaches its followers that the act of euthanasia is unacceptable because it is perceived as a sin, as it goes against one of the Ten Commandments. As implied by the [[Ten Commandments in Catholic theology#Fifth commandment|fifth commandment]], "Thou shalt not kill (You shall not kill)", the act of assisted suicide contradicts the dignity of human life as well as the respect one has for God.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism|title=Roman Catholicism|newspaper=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=7 December 2016|archive-date=17 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417093924/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Harvey2016/> Additionally, the Catholic Church recommends that terminally ill patients should receive palliative care, which deals with physical pain while treating psychological and spiritual suffering as well, instead of physician-assisted suicide.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Yao T |title=Can We Limit a Right to Physician-Assisted Suicide? |journal=The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly |date=2016 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=385–392 |doi=10.5840/ncbq201616336 }}</ref>