In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, several [Anglican] bishops, priests and rabbis argued that, far from being a sin, helping terminally ill people to commit suicide should be viewed simply as enabling them to "gracefully hand back" their lives to God.

There is, they insisted "nothing sacred" about suffering in itself and no one should be "obliged to endure it".

But those who want to continue life until the last breath should be supported, they noted.

Signatories of the letter include Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, who stunned the Church of England last year when he announced that he had changed his mind on the issue.

The Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Rev Alan Wilson, and a handful of Anglican clerics were also among the signatories - despite the Church of England's official opposition to a change in the law - as was Baroness Richardson, first female President of the Methodist Conference.

Rabbi Danny Rich, chief executive of Liberal Judaism and Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain a leading figure in Reform Judaism, also supported the call.

UK MPs are due to debate an assisted dying bill tabled by Labour's Rob Marris next month.

It would allow people thought to have no more than six months to live and a "settled intention" to end their life to be allowed to be given a lethal dose of drugs on the authority of two doctors.

Most of the major religious groups in the UK have voiced opposition.

Last month, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said "the right to die is someone else's duty to kill".

Preaching at Lourdes, Cardinal Nichols quoted Pope Francis: "It is a great lie to try and convince people that life lived with serious illness is not worth living."

The cardinal continued: "This is why we oppose those who wish to pass laws assisting suicide, giving people the right to die when they want."

Sources

• The Telegraph
• The Tablet
• Image: The Guardian

Empty handed I entered
The world
Barefoot I leave it
My coming, my going —
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.

Seigan paused outside one of the identical doors of the neurological unit, marked only with a number. He mulled over the words of the poem, letting them mingle, listening to their rhythm, refocusing. He was tired but not exhausted, nearing the end of his hospital shift. He straightened his dark scrubs and ran his hand over his clean-shaven head before adjusting his glasses.

As he entered the room he met a scent of flowers. The night lights of the city spilled in through the window and 57-year-old Cleo (as she was named in her hospital transcript), her head heavily bandaged, held out her hand to greet him. Her long, dark hair was streaked with grey and she lay propped up in her hospital bed.

"You're the Buddhist chaplain aren't you? I've been waiting for you," she said. "Please sit down. Do you have some time for me?"

"Of course," Seigan said, taking a seat next to her. "Tell me how you're doing, how you're feeling right now."

Cleo was admitted to the hospital after suffering a major seizure one day while doing her laundry. A brain biopsy a few weeks later revealed a glioblastoma, an aggressive and malignant form of brain cancer. The surgeon laid out the prognosis, cut and dried: she had less than three months to live. He urged her to go ahead with surgery and a chemotherapy follow-up. It would give her perhaps an extra nine months to a year, he said, but ultimately the cancer was terminal. Cleo explained how, despite her initial reaction to let nature take its course, she felt she should go ahead with the surgery for the sake of her 87-year-old mother, who was devastated by the diagnosis.

Seigan listened carefully.

"Can I challenge you for a little bit?" he asked. "What do you really want?" Continue reading

Sources

• The Atlantic
• Image: Sir Tony Baldry

The admission came on a television programme the pontiff participated in. Pope Benedict went on to say "We don't have the answers, but we know that Jesus suffered as innocent children suffer."

The pope's comments on suffering came in response to a question from a seven year old Japanese girl about why so many children had to suffer in natural calamities. It was one of seven chosen from more than 3,000 submitted in the last month.

One of the most moving questions was put by the parents of a 40 year old man who has suffered from multiple sclerosis since 1993 and has been in a vegetative state for the last two years.

Francesco and Maria Teresa Grillo asked Benedict whether the soul of their son Francesco remained within his body or was elsewhere given his degenerating mental state.

The Pope told them: "Certainly his soul is still present in his body."

"The situation is a little like a guitar which has had its strings broken and can no longer be played....the soul cannot be heard but it remains within."

"I'm also sure that this hidden soul can feel your love, even if it cannot understand the details, the words. But it feels the presence of love."

The parents' round-the-clock care for their son was "a testimony to faith in God, to respect for human life," the Pope said.

Benedict also responded to questions about the civil war in Ivory Coast, calling for greater dialogue between Islam and Christianity, and the dangers endured by Christians in Iraq.

The programme, "In His Image," was the first time a pope appeared on TV to answer questions.