Sin Against God': Pope Gives His Thoughts on Right to Die Debate

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has denounced the right to die movement, saying it's a "false sense of compassion" to consider euthanasia as an act of dignity when in fact it's a sin against God and creation.

Francis made the comments Saturday to the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors.

Earlier this month, the Vatican's top bioethics official condemned as "reprehensible" the assisted suicide of an American woman, Brittany Maynard, who was suffering terminal brain cancer and said she wanted to die with dignity.

Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman, took her own life recently under Oregon's law that allows the terminally ill to end their own lives. The Vatican's top bioethics official calls "reprehensible" the suicide of an American woman suffering terminal brain cancer who stated she wanted to die with dignity. (AP/Maynard Family)

Francis didn't refer to the Maynard case specifically. He also condemned abortion, in vitro fertilization (or "the scientific production of a child") and embryonic stem cell research (or "using human beings as laboratory experiments to presumably save others.")

Pope Francis caresses a baby at the end of a special audience he held for members of Catholic medical associations, in the Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Saturday. (AP/Andrew Medichini)

He said: "This is playing with life."