The private member's bill, sponsored by Labour's Rob Marris, was defeated 330-118, with 220 MPs absent at the vote on September 11.

Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark said he hoped the result meant that this would be an end to the debate on assisted dying.

"I welcome Parliament's recognition of the grave risks that this bill posed to the lives of our society's most vulnerable people," he said.

"There is much excellent practice in palliative care which we need to celebrate and promote, and I hope now the debate on assisted suicide is behind us, that this will become a focus for political action.

"I am encouraged by the participation of so many Catholics throughout England and Wales in this important discussion and hope that everyone involved will continue to support calls for better quality care as life nears its end," he added.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was firmly against the bill becoming law.

Ahead of the vote, Catholic and Anglican leaders urged the faithful to contact their MPs to oppose the bill.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said he believes this grassroots opposition played a role in the measure's defeat.

"I thank all Catholics in our parishes who took the time to write to or visit their Member of Parliament to express their concern about the bill," he said.

"It was an important moment of witness to our Christian faith and the value it places on each and every human life."

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: The Guardian

On Friday, the House of Commons will debate the Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill, put forward by Labour's Rob Marris.

The bill would allow patients judged as having no more than six months to live, and who had a "clear and settled intention" to end their lives, to be prescribed a lethal dose of drugs.

Two doctors and a family court judge would have to assess the patient's diagnosis and prognosis, and check that he or she was mentally competent to make a judgment, free of coercion.

The patient would then have to administer the lethal medication themselves, with a healthcare professional present.

In an extraordinary show of unity on Sunday, the heads of Britain's Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities wrote a joint letter to every MP urging them to throw out the assisted dying bill.

The faith leaders, including Cardinal Vincent Nichols, stated their main concern is pastoral.

"The bill has the potential to affect the lives of a great number of people whose circumstances make them vulnerable in different ways," the faith leaders wrote.

"If passed, it will directly affect not only those who are terminally ill and who wish to end their lives, but also their families and friends and the health professionals who care for them.

"It also has the potential to have a significant impact on other vulnerable individuals: those who believe that they have become burdens to family and carers and feel under pressure within themselves to ‘do the decent thing' and, tragically, those who might be pressured by others to seek a medically assisted death."

Already burdened, vulnerable people should not have to bear the added burden of having to consider ending their lives prematurely, the faith leaders wrote.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Justin Welby, said Britain would cross "a legal and ethical Rubicon" if the bill becomes law.

Sources

• The Guardian
• The Guardian
• Image: Gov.uk

"The proposed change will have catastrophic consequences for marriage as an institution, for family life in Britain, and for all human relationships, not least among our young,"
said Bishop Philip A. Egan of Portsmouth.

He said he was very disappointed at the "Orwellian manner" in which Parliament wished to redefine marriage.

Bishop Egan said the bill might lead the Catholic Church to remove itself from civil marriage.

"One possible consequence of this is that the Church will be forced to withdraw from the civil registration of marriages, as in some European countries, where couples fulfill the civil requirements in the Town Hall before heading to church for Matrimony,"
 he said.

Though the bill was backed by Prime Minister David Cameron, it split his ruling Conservative Party: 127 Conservative MPs voted in favour, 136 opposed it, and 35 abstained.

The bill is expected to face stronger opposition when it is considered by the House of Lords.

The Church of England opposed the bill. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Justin Welby, said he stood with his brother bishops in strongly opposing the redefinition of marriage.

Meanwhile, the head of the Pontifical Council for the Family expressed support for giving unmarried couples some kind of legal protection.

While reaffirming the Catholic Church's opposition to same-sex marriage, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said the Church should do more to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in countries where homosexuality is illegal.

Archbishop Paglia said that there are several kinds of "cohabitation forms that do not constitute a family", and that their number is growing.

He suggested that nations could find "private law solutions" to help individuals who live in non-matrimonial relations, "to prevent injustice and make their life easier".

Nevertheless, he was adamant in reaffirming society's duty to preserve the unique value of marriage as being between a man and a woman. Other kinds of "affections" could not be the foundation for a "public structure" such as marriage, he said.

Sources:

Catholic News Agency

Catholic News Service

National Catholic Reporter

Image: National Catholic Reporter

But an effort by a Catholic MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg, to change the Succession to the Crown Bill so that a Catholic could become king or queen was unsuccessful.

Rees-Mogg described the current exclusion as a "grating unfairness", adding that he thought the Church of England could still be protected as the established church in the United Kingdom.

The bill specifies that the children of a monarch must be brought up as Anglicans if they are to retain their place in the line of succession, given the sovereign's role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

"A Catholic may marry an heir to the throne, but may not then maintain the succession by bringing up a child of that marriage as a Catholic. Now the reason I object to this is that it is an attack on the teaching of the Catholic Church," Rees-Mogg said.

Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith said there was no public support to allow Catholics to succeed to the throne. Introducing such a fundamental change would also undermine the Church of England at a time when "instability was not welcome".

Rees-Mogg's amendment to allow a non-Anglican monarch to hand over the ecclesiastical role to a regent was rejected.

A Catholic MP from Northern Ireland, Mark Durkan, said the language proposed in the succession bill relating to the Catholic religion was offensive.

"The choice we're making...is basically putting a twenty-first century license on arcane and offensive language, quite sectarian provisions. Provisions which, if a politician in Northern Ireland used that same language on a political platform, people would be talking about incitement to religious hatred," he said.

The bill still has to go to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. The 15 other realms of the Commonwealth have already given their agreement.

The changes will mean that if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child, expected in July, is a girl, she can become monarch even if she later has younger brothers.

Sources:

Reuters

Catholic Herald

Express

Image: The Anglophile