November 13, 2026
The legal and religious confrontation is growing between the Catholic Church and the authorities of the US state of New York, against the backdrop of the “medical assistance in dying” legislation. In this context, the Archbishop of New York, Ronald A. Hicks, strongly criticized the law, accusing it of forcing Catholic health institutions to facilitate the suicide of patients, and participating in procedures that contradict the teachings of the Church, all the way to issuing death certificates that he described as not conforming to the real causes of death.
In an opinion article published by the Wall Street Journal, Hicks warned that the legislation puts Catholic institutions before two options, the most bitter of which is bitter. Either violate her religious faith, or face severe penalties that include heavy fines, withdrawal of professional licenses, and even imprisonment.
Hicks explained that although the law includes religious exemptions, it imposes unacceptable obligations on health institutions, including providing advice to patients about ending their lives. He added that institutions that have obtained an exemption are still required – according to his interpretation – to provide an alternative source to provide lethal drugs, and to organize the process of transferring patients to facilities that allow them to end their lives, revealing at the same time that some institutions, such as the Carmelite Sisters Monastery in Hartsdale, are excluded from any religious exemption.
On the moral level, the Archbishop considered that the dangerous clause represented the requirement of health institutions to issue death certificates that attributed the cause of death to the patient’s original disease, bypassing the medications he took to end his life, which he considered “a falsification of the truth and a grave moral and religious violation.”
Hicks recalled the long humanitarian history of Catholic institutions in New York, extending for more than a century and a half, pointing to the first Catholic hospital established in 1849 to confront the cholera epidemic, and institutions for the care of the poor, the elderly, and children, all the way to specialized centers such as Calvary Hospital for palliative care and Mother Cabrini Hospital for children with serious developmental disabilities.
Hicks emphasized that the church’s vision of health care is based on a humanitarian and religious message based on treating patients, alleviating their pain, and accompanying them until the end of their natural lives, refusing to turn suicide into a “medical option” presented to people in their moments of weakness. He believed that assisted suicide represents a moral failure that detracts from the dignity of human life, warning against normalizing the idea that human life becomes dispensable when the costs of care rise.
In an escalating step, Hicks announced that the Archdiocese of New York and its health institution, ArcCare, with support from the Becket Fund for Religious Freedom, had joined a federal lawsuit previously filed by the Diocese of Rockville Center and other Catholic institutions, to challenge the constitutionality of the obligations imposed under the law.
The Archbishop concluded by emphasizing that the Church does not seek to suspend laws in favor of religion, but rather demands that it protect the freedom to provide care in accordance with its beliefs, stressing that the Church will not abandon patients, and at the same time will not comply with any coercion that would implicate it in ending their lives. Thus, the battle moves to the halls of the American judiciary, forming a sensitive test of the balance between the rights of patients to decide the fate of the ends of their lives, and the freedom of religious institutions to reject practices that conflict with the essence of their faith.
