Archbishops: Assisted suicide bill will be death knell for hospices, care homes in England

Dublin, Ireland, Jun 19, 2025 / 13:32 pm (CNA).

Two prominent archbishops in England have said that if the End of Life Bill set for a final vote in Parliament on Friday passes, Catholic hospices and care homes may have no choice but to shut down.

In a statement about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill about to face its Third Reading on Friday in British Parliament, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, and Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool, who oversees life issues, said: “We call attention to the fact that the future of many care homes and hospices will be put in grave doubt if the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill becomes law.”

Nichols and Sherrington also addressed the protection amendments to the bill that have been rejected.

“Our Parliament has now rejected amendments that would have allowed such institutions not to be involved in assisted suicide,” they said. “Minister Stephen Kinnock, MP [member of Parliament]; Kim Leadbeater, MP; as well as other MPs indicated that the rights that this bill will give to individuals to seek assisted suicide, and to employees to participate in an assisted suicide, are likely to trump the mission and values of institutions such as hospices and care homes.”

They continued: “In other words, a right to assisted suicide given to individuals is highly likely to become a duty on care homes and hospices to facilitate it. We fear that this bill will thereby seriously affect the provision of social care and palliative care across the country.”

“The insufficient protections provided by the bill, along with the tone of the discussion surrounding the amendment and comments from its sponsors, indicate a strong possibility that Catholic hospices and care homes may be compelled to participate in assisted suicide if the bill is approved.”

Nichols, who has been an outspoken opponent of the Assisted Suicide Bill, and Sherrington said in their statement: “Institutions whose mission has always been to provide compassionate care in sickness or old age, and to provide such care until the end of life, may have no choice, in the face of these demands, but to withdraw from the provision of such care.” 

The statement also addressed the damage this bill may do to the relationship that Catholic care facilities have with their local communities.  “The widespread support which hospices attract from local communities will also be undermined by these demands which, in many cases, will require these institutions to act contrary to their traditional and principled foundations,” they said.

The archbishops urged the defeat of the bill. “This tragedy can only be avoided by the defeat of this bill on Friday,” they said.

Representatives of Catholic care facilities have voiced their concerns in evidence provided to Parliament legislators.

St. Gemma’s is a hospice in Leeds, England, and during the committee stage of the bill told MPs: “If compliance with assisted dying provision becomes a condition for NHS [National Health Service] funding, institutions like St. Gemma’s may have no alternative but to cease operations entirely.”

In October 2024, St. Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney, East London, warned that “as a Catholic hospice, our position is that assisted dying plays no part in our specialist palliative care practice and is not consistent with our ethos or values.”