VATICAN CITY: 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 it's a sin against God and creation.

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

Pope Francis denounced euthanasia as a "sin against God".

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.

Pope Francis didn't refer to the Maynard case specifically.