The Bishops' Conference of Scotland

17th March 2026

17 March 2026

Scotland Rejects Assisted Dying and Affirms Human Dignity

MSPs can be confident that they have taken the correct and responsible course of action. Their vote serves to protect some of Scotland’s most vulnerable individuals from the risk of being pressured into a premature death.

Every human life possesses inherent value. Genuine compassion is not expressed through ending a life, but through accompanying those who suffer and ensuring they receive the medical, emotional, and spiritual support that recognises their dignity. No life is without worth.

As a society, our responsibility is not to address suffering by eliminating the sufferer, but to surround each person with care, respect, and dignity until their natural end. Today’s decision moves Scotland further in that direction, and MSPs should be commended for this.

However, we must continue to make progress. Our next priority must be to strengthen palliative care by ensuring that it is properly funded and accessible to all who require it.

I would like to express my gratitude to all MSPs for their serious engagement with this issue and for the thoughtful and considered attention they have given to the bill. I am especially grateful to those who upheld the principle of human dignity and advocated on behalf of the vulnerable. Your principled commitment has not gone unnoticed.

Bishop John Keenan

President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland

Contact:

Media Office

Bishops’ Conference of Scotland
64 Aitken Street, ML6 6LT
Tel: 01236 764061
Email: [email protected]

The Roman Catholic Bishops in Scotland work together to undertake nationwide initiatives through their Commissions and Agencies.

The members of the Bishops' Conference are the Bishops of the eight Scottish Dioceses. Where appropriate the Bishops Emeriti (retired) provide a much welcomed contribution to the work of the conference. The Bishops' Conference of Scotland is a permanently constituted assembly which meets regularly throughout the year to address relevant business matters.

Members of The Bishops' Conference of Scotland

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Archive by tag: Bishops' Conference of ScotlandReturn

January 2025

30Jan

Photos from SCIAF's post

30 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

29Jan

Diocese of Motherwell Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2025 - Joe Walsh Tours

29 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

https://joewalshtours.co.uk/tours/diocese-of-motherwell-pilgrimage-to-lourdes-2025/#booking-form

The Diocese of Motherwell Pilgrimage to Lourdes takes place from 14th to 21st July 2025, under the leadership of The Bishop of Motherwell Right Reverend

28Jan

Jerusalem bishop to speak in Scotland about suffering of Christians in Holy Land - The Tablet

28 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/jerusalem-bishop-to-speak-in-scotland-about-suffering-of-christians-in-holy-land/

Bishops from the Holy Land and Nigeria are among the speakers scheduled to speak at anb ACN conference in Scotland on the suffering and persecution of Christians.

28Jan

Aid to the Church in Need | Scottish Catholic Conference

28 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

https://acnuk.org/event/scottish-catholic-conference/

Scottish Catholic Conference Start: 29 Mar 2025 9:30 ▪ End: 29 Mar 2025 16:00 ▪ Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3NY facebook twitter email Please join us for our first ever ACN Scottish Catholic Conference, ‘Courage to Be Catholic’. This special event will bring ...

28Jan

Pange Lingua Gloriosi - Tantum Ergo Sacramentum Corpus Christi Maundy Thursday Eucharistic Adoration

28 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

https://youtu.be/4apJNn2Y-ds?si=QX4HW-DEU5Qdes1L
Written by St Thomas Aquinas

Arrangment by Caitlin Foster 2022Sung by: Caitlin Foster, Emma Drzycimski, Michael Foster, and John GriffithTranslation by: Edward Caswall, C.O. (1814–1878)P...

28Jan

Saint Thomas Aquinas | Franciscan Media

28 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-thomas-aquinas/

Saint Thomas Aquinas is well known for his writings, especially the "Summa Theologica." But he was far more than a philosopher/theologian. He was a devout man who wrote beautiful prayers and hymns. Perhaps the best known is the "Pange Lingua."

27Jan

Bishops and political leaders across Europe remember Holocaust victims, urge world to fight rising antisemitism - Catholic Stand...

27 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

https://www.cathstan.org/us-world/bishops-and-political-leaders-across-europe-remember-holocaust-victims-urge-world-to-fight-rising-antisemitism

(OSV News) – Church leaders across Europe marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp with calls to remember German Nazi-inflicted sufferings and to counter a new rise in antisemitism and extremism.

27Jan

USA: Helping refugees "is not rocket science

27 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/51600

In his first interview since becoming US Vice President, JD Vance yesterday expressed his support for President Trump's draconian orders to deport millions of unregistered migrant workers, and authorise raids on schools and churches sheltering them. He voiced his disappointment at the U...

26Jan

Gospel of the Day (Luke 1,1-4.4,14-21)

26 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

Gospel of the Day (Luke 1,1-4.4,14-21)

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day/2025/01/26.html

26Jan

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26 Jan, 2025 | Bishops' Conference of Scotland | BCoS Facebook |

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