Social issues

France

Let’s help each other to live, not to die

(14 March 2023) (sv) The French association "Alleviate but don't kill" makes an appeal to the whole of society in view of the Civic Convention that has been meeting in France since 9 December 2022 on end-of-life issues (see box).

France

Euthanasia and assisted suicide must not be considered as care

(14 March 2023) (sv) Representatives of 13 professional nursing associations in France have taken it upon themselves, with a view to possible changes in the law, to reflect on the consequences of legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia (see Box 1) on daily nursing practice and to inform legislators and the population about the results. – We print here the abridged version of their statement, which received wide attention in France. It deserved this attention in many Western countries where the ban on killing has already been challenged or abolished.

Russia

A new life: four student portraits

A report on young people who, despite the conflict in Ukraine, decided to make a success of their lives

by Maria D.*

(7 March 2023) No one knows in advance what life will bring, and therefore, you can hardly prepare for unpredictable twists of fate. At present, the whole world is watching the great drama unfolding in the Slavic area.

Call for peace

Stand up for survival

written on 31 January 2023, published on 4 February 2023
The list of signatories was updated on 25 February 2023

Deeply concerned about life and survival in the centre of Europe, we address this appeal primarily to the people of German-speaking European countries. With a diversity of socio-political views, we are sustained by the common conviction that at no time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 has our world been so close to catastrophe. If the delusional enthusiasm for war currently being fomented in the mass media is not effectively counteracted, there is a great danger the Ukraine war will lead to the use of nuclear weapons in Europe.

“We must do something new with this failure, find a life lesson”

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Delegation from the “Instituto Europeo de Estudios Internacionales de Salamanca” (Spain) 26 January 2023

Your Eminence,
Dear brothers and sisters,

(21 February 2023) Thank you for coming; it is a pleasure for me to welcome you back to this house and to share with you the fruit of research on the current political and social situation. Rome has been a melting pot of cultures and peoples for millennia. Everyone has passed through here, and they have fused together, in a melting pot. Heir to this universal vocation, the See of Peter has always been attentive to the vicissitudes of all peoples, their efforts and their difficulties to achieve a better life, seeking to ensure that they attain the peace that the Lord promised his disciples (cf. Jn 14:26-27).

Letter to the editor

Let’s stand up for peace

(21 February 2023) Many media, politicians, anti-arms activists, anti-militarists, anti-violence activists, Greens, Reds and do-gooders of all colours, but above all an appalling number of women, are currently crying out loudly for more arms and tank deliveries to Ukraine.