Italian Director: Catholic Influence Prevents the Legalization of Euthanasia in Italy

The Italian director Marco Bellocchio is convinced, that the Catholics of Italy were able to dominate the political landscape so that euthanasia could not be legalized.

 Rome (kath.net / LSN / jg) The influence of the Catholics of Italy is too strong to enable the legalization of euthanasia.

"When the power of Catholics is so great, as in Italy, it is almost impossible to get a secular law through" that authorizes euthanasia, the Italian director Marco Bellocchio told the AFP news agency. Bellocchio was at this year's Venice Film Festival with the film "Bella Addormentata" (Eng. "The Sleeping Beauty") represented.

The film is based on true events. In 2009, the then 38-year-old Eluana Englaro had died after 17 years in a vegetative state after a court had allowed her father to stop the artificial feeding of his daughter. The case had then engaged the Italian public for weeks. He would take no position in the film, but showed the state of Italian society. He could answer the question of whether he was for or against euthanasia, neither with a clear yes or no, said Bellocchio, who described himself as not religious. "I am in any case for life. But what one must decide one's life for himself," he said, according to a report by the "Wiener Zeitung".

  From Kath.net...

Edit: Coupled with more militant films like Spain's "The Sea Inside", there is a film with a similar aim, with a more subtle and ponderous approach to changing hearts and minds.  For if you can't fight something head on, it's better to chew on the edges with a film which panders to people's emotions while showing tremendous respect for the deep-seated Catholic sensibilities you face.