Since both the Protestant as well as the Catholic Church in Germany plead for the "inviolability" and "sacredness" of life, they disapprove of active euthanasia as "a targeted killing of a human being in his last phase of life, which can ethically not be justified, even if the killing is carried out on the human being's explicit and desperate request". They advocate a "strengthening of alternatives [...] for a humane companionship of ill and dying persons [...] by showing commitment in Charity and deaconry, in the welfare centers, hospices and hospitals".