The Community of Sant'Egidio learned with sorrow the death of Eluana and considers it a serious wound to the conscience and to the culture of the life of the Country.  A death preceded by too much uproar and by the absence of modesty on the personal and familiar pain. The uproar does never help to choose the right thing when the boundary between the life and the death is wrapped by the mystery and by many things that we do not know.

The Community of Sant' Egidio has been raising its voice so that Eluana would not be condamned to die by a sentence to which she could not oppose her will, nor defend herself from.

Though aware and respectful of the immense and long sorrow of the relatives of Eluana, of their feelings and of their painful search, we confirm our YES to life, even when it seems that little life has remained and it might appear not worthy to be lived. Life is a gift. As such it must be accepted, lived, filled with sense, surrounded with respect and friendship, it must be considered inviolable and never without value.

We are aware however how difficult it can be being close in grievous situations like those of Eluana, that seem hopeless. We believe that the answer must not and cannot be death, defeat, resignation. Before this dramatic event, as well as the many other that mark the daily life of our country, there is need to talk, to support, to help and to show solidarity, in a commitment that should involve, besides the relatives, the citizens, the social services, the founding and the society in its complex. 

Death is never a conquest of civilization.