Pope John Paul II has told a group of doctors that excessive medicalisation of the terminally ill was "useless" and in many cases failed to respect human dignity.
Addressing a world meeting of gastro-enterologists, the pontiff said that a determination to treat terminally ill patients at all cost "even with the best intentions in the world, could prove counterproductive, as well as useless and not respectful of the sick person."
"There are limits that are not humanly surmountable," he said.
"The complexity of the human being forces us ... to take care not only of his body, but also of his mind," the pontiff said. "It would be presumptuous to rely only on technique."
He nevertheless urged doctors to "push ahead with your research with confidence and tenacity, using the most advanced scientific resources."
The Pope, who turns 82 in May, is suffering from Parkinson's disease and was forced to cancel several events last month because of an arthritic right knee.
AFP