--- title: Vatican Official Condemns Brittany Maynard Assisted Suicide description: A Vatican official on Tuesday called Maynard's decision to end her own life rather than succumb to a terminal form of cancer "reprehensible" canonical: https://time.com/3557113/vatican-official-condemns-brittany-maynard-death/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-04T21:35:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:13:25.207Z article:section: Health og:title: Vatican Official Condemns Brittany Maynard Assisted Suicide og:description: A Vatican official on Tuesday called Maynard's decision to end her own life rather than succumb to a terminal form of cancer "reprehensible" og:url: https://time.com/3557113/vatican-official-condemns-brittany-maynard-death/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vatican Official Condemns Brittany Maynard Assisted Suicide twitter:description: A Vatican official on Tuesday called Maynard's decision to end her own life rather than succumb to a terminal form of cancer "reprehensible" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Vatican Official Calls Brittany Maynard's Assisted Suicide 'Reprehensible'  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Nov 4, 2014 9:35 PM UTC  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Nov 4, 2014 9:35 PM UTC A Vatican official condemned the planned death of Brittany Maynard on Tuesday, calling her decision to end her life rather than succumb to a terminal form of brain cancer “reprehensible.” Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, one of the Catholic church’s leaders on bioethical issues and head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, called the decision to end one’s life undignified, the Associated Press [reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fbaca69618424e2eaeebc143017d2547/vatican-official-condemns-assisted-suicide). “Brittany Maynard’s act is in itself reprehensible,” he told the ANSA news agency. “What happened in the consciousness we do not know.” The official stressed that he did not mean to pass judgement against Maynard herself, but rather took issue with Maynard’s [argument](http://time.com/3556280/brittany-maynard-death-with-dignity-options/) that people faced with devastating, terminal medical conditions should have the freedom to end their lives at a time of their choosing. “The gesture in and of itself should be condemned,” Carrasco de Paula said. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fbaca69618424e2eaeebc143017d2547/vatican-official-condemns-assisted-suicide)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3557113/vatican-official-condemns-brittany-maynard-death/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3557113/vatican-official-condemns-brittany-maynard-death/"},"headline":"Vatican Official Calls Brittany Maynard's Assisted Suicide 'Reprehensible'","datePublished":"2014-11-04T21:35:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:13:25.207Z","description":"\"The gesture in and of itself should be condemned\"","url":"https://time.com/3557113/vatican-official-condemns-brittany-maynard-death/","keywords":["Suicide","Religion","Catholic Church","Vatican","Ethics","Brittany Maynard"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3557113/vatican-official-condemns-brittany-maynard-death/","name":"Vatican Official Calls Brittany Maynard's Assisted Suicide 'Reprehensible'"}}]}] ```