Pope says assisted dying not 'normal'

"No human law should ever make you lose the certainty of your dignity," he told believers who were sick or suffered from disabilities, at the French pilgrimage site of Lourdes.

"We must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion. It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal," he added.

"What is legal is not necessarily moral."

France's parliament passed legislation in June establishing a right to assisted dying for some adults suffering from an incurable condition.

The move drew strong criticism from the Catholic Church in France, which denounced the bill as a serious "rupture".