Msgr Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who is head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said there was no dignity in her physician assisted death.

Ms Maynard, 29, took a lethal prescription provided by a doctor under Oregon state's death-with-dignity law.

Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and was given only months to live

She died on November 1.

"We don't judge people, but the gesture in itself is to be condemned," Msgr Carrasco de Paula told Italy's ANSA news agency.

"Assisted suicide is an absurdity. Dignity is something different than putting an end to your own life," he said.

Ms Maynard became a media sensation after a video she posted on YouTube announcing her decision was viewed 9.8 million times.

This made her an appealing young face for the right-to-die movement.

She worked closely with the advocacy group Compassion and Choices.

But Msgr Carrasco de Paula said: "Killing yourself is not a good thing; it's a bad thing because it says no to life and to all that means in relation to our duty in the world and to those close to us."

He added that assisted suicide was also dangerous because it offered a potential "solution" for a society that sought to abandon the sick and quit paying the costs of their illnesses.

In a final Facebook posting, Ms Maynard wrote: "Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!"

Only two days earlier, she released a video reconsidering the November 1 date she had set for her suicide.

She was still having good days with her family and friends, she said, and she wasn't sure if it was yet the "right time".

Janet Morana, executive director of the pro-life organisation Priests for Life, said: "Pray for Brittany for the repose of her soul, it's in the hands of God right now."

"Anything is possible with God. Don't put limitations on what God can do."

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• ANSA
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Taringa.net

Dr Peter Saunders, now chief executive officer of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said the number of euthanasia cases increased from 24 to 1133 in the 10 years to 2011.

He said Belgium has eclipsed the Netherlands, the American state of Oregon and Switzerland "in the race to become the ‘world leader'".

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A stringent European money laundering exam in July and a federal court ruling in Oregon this week both make the point.

Earlier this year, the Vatican faced secular scrutiny of its financial operations for the first time with a review by Moneyval, Europe's anti-money-laundering agency. The Vatican submitted voluntarily, a somewhat surprising choice given its long history of fighting off such perceived incursions on its autonomy tooth and nail. The truth, however, is it didn't have much choice. If the Vatican is perceived as a suspect financial player, it risks higher transaction costs and being shut out of important markets.

July's verdict was a mixed bag, raising questions such as whether regulation of the Vatican Bank is sufficiently strong. Yet on the whole, Moneyval concluded the Vatican "has come a long way in a very short period of time" toward transparency, and "there is no empirical evidence of corruption."

Those findings undercut conspiracy theories about Vatican finances, and, to some extent, they also offset perceptions of Benedict XVI's papacy as an administrative train wreck.

Taking its medicine, in other words, did the Vatican some good.

Something similar happened Monday, with a ruling in a federal district court in Oregon on a sex abuse lawsuit. In a nutshell, the judge held that the Vatican is not the "employer" of Catholic priests and dismissed it from the case.

Judge Michael Mosman compared policies for priests set in Rome to the sort of control a state bar association wields over lawyers — important, sure, but not tantamount to an employer/employee relationship.

Before explaining why that experience was healthy, too, a bit of background. Read more

Sources

• John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: San Francisco Sentinel