Léonard, head of the Belgian bishops' conference, said euthanasia
undermined social solidarity and encouraged public opinion to think even
questions of life and death were only personal decisions.
"This argument is certainly in step with today's culture," he told
the Italian Catholic news agency SIR, talking of a "hidden and insidious
influence" that made old people feel they should choose death rather
than bother others to care for them.
"Belgian law does not allow minors to sign business contracts, to
marry or sign documents with binding requirements in the future, but
with this law, if passed, they will be able to decide to die even
without the consent of their parents," he added.
Archbishop Léonard spoke as debate over euthanasia, which Belgium
legalised in 2002, revived after a 44-year-old transsexual was helped to
die because he suffered "unbearable psychological distress" over what
he considered his failed sex-change operation.
Belgium reported 1,432 cases of euthanasia last year, or 2 per cent
of all deaths. Its parliament barely defeated a bill to extend the law
to minors and dementia sufferers last June but supporters of the plan
aim to present it again in coming months.
The daily La Libre Belgique reported this month that 75 per cent of Belgians favoured extending the law.