Dying “not by the hand” of others, but “taken in hand” by others: recalling the words of the late-lamented Cardinal Franz König, the President of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, spoke at an international conference on the end of human life held in the castle of Hartheim, in Austria, at the end of April. In his speech Schönborn underlined that the cross-party consensus that currently exists in Austria on the rejection of direct euthanasia and the promotion of the accompaniment of the terminally ill and the hospice movement represents an “example for the whole of Europe”. The archbishop of Vienna said he favoured a “rediscovery of the art of dying”: “in an age in which active euthanasia is being discussed everywhere, the question of the end of life needs to be restored to the centre of social discussion. “Faced by death, most people today feel impotent; they are lost for words and don’t know how to act”, he added. A conscious coming to terms with one’s own death requires that this “silence” be overcome and importance be given once again to speaking about death. Alluding to the atrocities committed against the disabled in the castle of Hartheim during the Nazi period, Cardinal Schönborn declared that “a society in which there is no longer room for the disabled is a disabled society. It is a society shorn of humanity”, he said, with reference to the tendency to eliminate unborn children in case of suspected disability. The Austrian Federal President, Heinz Fischer, intervening at the inauguration of the conference, declared that “human dignity represents a central concept of social objectives”, a postulate “that also comprises dying with dignity”. Fischer said he was convinced that “the theme of accompanying the dying in Austria may now be discussed in an objective way” and he praised the hospice movement. “The use of the art of medicine in the battle against premature death is ardently to be desired, but that does not mean that death at the end of one’s own natural existence should be stubbornly deferred as long as possible with all the means of technology and no matter at what cost”.
