Pope calls medically-assisted death “false compassion”

Pope Leo XIV touches on the controversial subject of euthanasia,

calling it "false compassion" as he continues his tour in France's

Lourdes, a popular pilgrimage site for the sick and disabled.

American Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass before some 150,000 people-many

in wheelchairs-on the prairie next to Lourdes' main basilica,

the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Lourdes is a major pilgrimage destination after the Catholic Church

recognised visions of Virgin Mary reported in 1858.

Against the backdrop of the city's history as a popular site for sick and

disabled believers hoping for cure from the famed spring water in the Lourdes grotto,

Leo wades into the end-of-life debate unfolding in countries around the world.

Shaking hands with disabled individuals, and sharing moments with faithful.

Leo sought to encourage those who live in "terrible pain" that they have inherent dignity,

condemning the legalisation of medically assisted death while reaffirming the Catholic

teachings on the sanctity of life.

"It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal. What is legal is

not necessarily moral," Leo says, addressing the crowd.

He goes on to say no person has the right to decide the life of a given embryo

or elderly person and medicine must never become the servant of

programmed death "under the guise of false compassion."

The pontiff concludes his time in Lourdes with a Rosary and torchlight procession.

Together with thousands of faithful, he walked behind the Statue of Virgin Mary

while praying the Rosary.