Pope Benedict XVI has underlined the "value of every human life" during his pre-Christmas blessing, amid controversy over the death of Italian right-to-die campaigner Piergiorgio Welby. "The birth of Christ helps us to be aware of what human life is worth, the value of every human life, from his first moment to his natural decline," the pope said in the Angelus blessing Sunday.
Welby, who died on Wednesday, was to have a civil funeral in Rome Sunday, after Italy's Roman Catholic church refused religious rites for the muscular dystrophy victim.
Welby's activism has sparked a debate on euthanasia in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy, where it is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, although patients are legally allowed to refuse care.
"In this world, where Jesus wanted to be the travelling companion for each of us, no one is an outsider," the pope said.
"It is true we are all passing through ... but he (Jesus) asks us all to extend a welcome to all," he said.
The Roman Catholic Church Friday refused a request by Welby's sister and mother for a funeral service arguing that his very public campaign to die "is contrary to Church doctrine."
Italy's health minister has called for clearing up the judicial ambiguities of sustaining life artificially.
Rome's public prosecutors's office has opened an inquiry into the cause of Welby's death, which the all-news channel Sky TG24 reported as due to a "cardiovascular arrest." But final results of an autopsy, will not be available for several weeks, the channel added.
