Catholic Church criticises Noelia Castillo's death by euthanasia, saying society failed

Published on 27/03/2026 - 15:00 GMT+1 • Updated 15:4259 Several leading Catholic Church figures have criticised the death of 25-year-old Noelia Castillo, who died by euthanasia in Barcelona on Thursday after winning a long court battle. The Bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos Pérez, said of the case, "we have all failed as a society." He said the option of euthanasia represents "another step towards a culture of death, throwing in the towel on the humanisation of medicine. There is a desire to require the doctor to end Noelia's life, when a doctor's mission is to cure and, if they cannot cure, to accompany and relieve." In a statement, the bishops of the Subcommission for the Family and the Defence of Life expressed their sorrow over the case, which they said reflected "an accumulation of personal suffering and institutional shortcomings that calls the whole of society into question." Luis Argüello, president of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, struck a very similar tone. "A doctor cannot act as the executioner for a death sentence, however legal, empowering or compassionate it may appear," he said. The organisation Christian Lawyers also said Castillo's case was regretfulregrettable. "If deliberately caused death is the solution to problems, then anything goes," the group said. Right to die Noelia Castillo received the medication that ended her life after a Barcelona court rejected a last-ditch appeal by her family to halt the procedure. Castillo's case had been closely watched since 2024, when a medical and legal committee in Catalonia approved her application because she suffered from a serious and incurable condition, with severe and chronic suffering. Castillo struggled with psychiatric illness since she was a teenager, and tried taking her life twice, she said, the second time after she was sexually assaulted. The injuries she suffered from her second suicide attempt in 2022 left her unable to use her legs and in a wheelchair. Her father appealed the court decision, claiming that his daughter's mental health problems prevented her from making a free and informed decision, but the courts consistently ruled in her favour.