End of life: Macron seeks a “middle path”, according to sects

Emmanuel Macron intends to advance on the issue of the end of life “in a respectful manner”, finding a “middle way”, declared several representatives of the religious authorities, received this Monday by the Head of State.

On this issue, “we feel that he absolutely wanted to move forward in a respectful way” and “in complexity, he seeks to find a middle way,” said the president of the Protestant Federation of France, Christian Krieger, received at the Elysée. for the president’s greetings to the representatives of religions.

Another quote “around the month of April”

Among the latter were present the Chief Rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia, the President of the Episcopal Conference of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, the rector of the Paris Mosque, Chems-eddine Hafiz, or a representative of the Forum of Islam in France (Forif, a body made up of outfield players, created in 2022).

Emmanuel Macron said he would “personally consult all the religious authorities, once the Citizens’ Convention has done its job”, “around April”, according to Christian Krieger. “At the same time,” he indicated, “he feels a duty to show respect for people who have lost all meaning in their lives because of their suffering and their isolation. And that society should be able to respond to people who don’t have religious responses of their own.”

Cults oppose any ‘active aid in dying’

The Head of State also indicated that 2023 would be “the year of the Forif”, “interlocutor” of the public powers, with the holding of a new meeting “in March” and “the appointment of interlocutors in the departments”, said Chems-Eddine Hafiz.

Finally, the president spoke at length about peace and the sources of war in the world, reported Haïm Korsia and Eric de Moulins-Beaufort: “Ukraine, Russia, but also Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, etc.” “He insisted on how religions can be a resource for peace,” according to the latter. Present, on behalf of the government, were Elisabeth Borne and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, they reported.

In March, the approximately 200 French citizens of the Citizens’ Convention on the end of life will say whether or not to change the current law. In the autumn, the different sects expressed their concern, defending “absolute” respect for life, and believing that the move to “active assistance in death” would constitute an important “rupture”.