True compassion . . . encourages every reasonable effort for the patient’s recovery. At the same time, it helps draw the line when it is clear that no further treatment will serve this purpose.
— Pope John Paul II: Statement on Palliative Care, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly; 5, no. 1 (2005): 153-155.
Palliative care is an expression of the properly human attitude of taking care of one another, especially of those who suffer. It bears witness that the human person is always precious, even if marked by age and sickness. . . . For this reason, when life becomes very fragile and the end of earthly existence approaches, we feel the responsibility to assist and accompany the person in the best way.
— Pope Francis’ address to the Pontifical Academy for Life, 3/5/15