Pope Leo stated Dec. 23 that he had joined Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Cupich in pleading with Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker not to sign a controversial assisted suicide bill into law and was “very disappointed” when Pritzker ignored their intervention and signed the bill.
“I spoke very explicitly with Governor Pritzker about that,” the Holy Father said outside Castel Gandolfo in response to EWTN Vatican correspondent Rudolf Gehrig’s question about the bill. Pritzker visited the Vatican and had an audience with the Pope in November.
“At that time, the bill was already on his desk,” the Holy Father said Tuesday. “I’m sure also with Cardinal Cupich [spoke to Pritzker]. We were very clear about the necessity to respect the sacredness of life from the very beginning to the very end.”
Nonetheless, Pritzker went ahead with the bill. “I’m very disappointed about that,” the Holy Father said.
“I would invite all people, especially in these Christmas feast days, to reflect upon the nature of human life, the goodness of human life,” he added. “God became became human like us to show us what it means really to live human life. And I hope and pray that the respect for life would once again grow in all moments of human existence, from conception until natural death.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, Pritzker signed the law Dec. 12, “allowing terminally ill patients to take life-ending medication prescribed by a doctor, making Illinois the first state in the Midwest to legalize medical aid in dying.”
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