Today, Governor JB Pritzker has chosen to sign legislation legalizing assisted suicide in Illinois – and he has done so on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This feast day is not incidental. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to put an end to human sacrifice, to proclaim the infinite dignity of every human life, and to stand as Mother to the unborn, the sick, the poor, and the marginalized. She came to protect precisely those whom this law now places in grave danger. 

To legalize assisted suicide is to tell the suffering that their lives are expendable. It is to offer death instead of care, poison instead of presence, abandonment instead of love. No amount of compassionate language can disguise the reality: this law authorizes the direct taking of innocent human life. 

That this action follows a recent private meeting with the Holy Father, in which the Governor publicly stated that “vulnerable people” were discussed, only deepens the moral contradiction. Laws do not protect the vulnerable by making their deaths legal. 

I do not believe the timing of this decision is accidental. Symbols matter. Feast days matter. And today’s choice stands in direct opposition to the message Our Lady of Guadalupe brought to the world. 

The Catholic Church cannot be silent. A shepherd must speak when the flock is threatened. 

I call upon Catholics and all people of good will to reject this culture of death and to recommit themselves to authentic compassion – compassion that walks with the suffering, treats pain, provides care, and never abandons a human being to death. 

On this holy feast day, I entrust Illinois and its most vulnerable citizens to the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, praying for conversion of hearts, clarity of conscience, and the courage to defend life without compromise.  

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. 

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland