The Grand Duke's noble stand
Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Nassau, has taken a stand against Euthanasia by stating that he will refuse to sign into law a bill to legalise euthanasia. The Grand Duke's courageous and principles stand has brought about a constitutional crisis in Luxembourg.
Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, has threatened to propose a change to the constitution to deny the Grand Duke his veto. Juncker offers the customary and useless disclaimer that he is "personally opposed" to euthanasia.
(See the article in Spiegel Online International.)
14 comments:
The Grand Duke is doing his duty in recognising that the law of God cannot be contravened by any law of men. I have followed your link father and notice that the proposed Luxembourgeois legislation incorporates just the sort of "safeguards" that the 1967 Abortion Act included (and continues to incorporate). And yet note what the consequences have been.
Wow. Courageous and principled indeed.
I wish I could see some way that this matter would be resolved, in the context of contemporary anti-life Europe, conventions of "people power", and pressure from the EU bureaucracy, that would be substantially different from the extremely unsatisfactory compromise that permitted access to abortion to be liberalized in Belgium by way of allowing King Baudouin to temporarily "abdicate" (abdicate his responsibility, truth being told, I suppose) so that he was not required to formally assent to the act (which none the less was approved "in his absence").
Unfortunately I think it all but certain that, at least in the short term, some foul and anti-life compromise in the name of democracy and the tyranny of the majority and the slavery of temporal amorality will prevail.
Although in all honesty I don't know enough about either the political or moral state of Luxembourg (although given what I do know of both its Benelux neighbours, I am pessimistic) to know whether either this pessimism or ultimate optimism is, for now, warranted or justified.
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God bless you!
St. Conleth’s Catholic Heritage Association
p.s.
God bless the Grand Duke of Luxembourg!
Surely if the Government tries to pass an amendment to the constitution to deny the Duke his right to veto.....he can veto that as well? ;-)
God bless the Duke for being a real head of state. If only Her Majesty would do the same in the UK.
The Grand Duke spoke recently at the Institute of Christ the King in Chicago, where he told his "reversion" story.
He and his wife are big proponents of the EF and orthodoxy.
There is little doubt that Henri would sacrifice his title to save his soul.
He is an inspiration.
Now that I think about it, it wasn't Henri. It was Paul, Duke of Oldenburg, who also has a wife named Maria.
Europe's not as bad off as I previously thought, with TWO men like this.
Courageous conviction - it's what's for dinner.
Hey, Jean-Claude....although I am *personally* in favor of not executing people named "Jean-Claude" a majority wants it so therefor, I will go along with their opinion...regardless of right/wrong.
So start babbling your prayers if you know any.
I sometimes wonder what would have happened, had our Gracious Majesty, refused to make Abortion 'legal'.
Surely she went against her faith when she rubber stamped ... I mean signed ... the legislation?
Can't the grand duke veto any attempt to remove his veto?
God Bless His Royal Highness Henri.
The late King Baudouin of Belgium, when faced with a similar dilemma over a law to allow abortion, opted to abdicate for one day. He seemed to have been led to believe that by not physically signing the document, while enabling others to enact the law in his place, he would be innocent of wrongdoing in the matter. The manoeuvre also enabled him to keep his throne, which might have been put under threat if he had stood fast and refused to sign the law into effect.
I thought then, and have continued to think, that he had in fact co-operated in the evil by actively facilitating it. In contrast, I admire the Grand Duke of Luxembourg for taking his own stand in this uncompromising way.
Have the nation's bishops weighed in on the matter? I would be interested in hearing whether they support this man's righteous stand or will hide away for fear of losing their own authority.
At last! A nobleman who believes in the Social Reign of Christ the King!!!
I applaud the stand of the Grand Duke, but his situation is different from that of Her Majesty the Queen. He has the legal authority to veto legislation, she does not. The position is not merely that the Queen would provoke a constitutional crisis if she tried to veto any anti-life legislation (though that would undoubtedly be the case), it is that she does not have the legal power to veto legislation in the first place. Under the Royal Assent Act, "Royal Assent" is a legal fiction, an administrative process which does not involve the Queen at all. And even if she tried to refuse assent to an Act, it would make no difference whatsoever, since the courts would enforce the Act, despite the purported refusal. I'm afraid that those who wish that Her Majesty would take a heroic stand like the Grand Duke, are unfamiliar with the legal position.
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