Rome ? The Roman Catholic Church on Friday denied a religious funeral for the paralyzed Italian author who died after a doctor disconnected his respirator, saying it would treat his public wish to “end his life” as a willful suicide.

Piergiogio Welby’s widow, who defended the doctor’s decision, said the family would hold a lay funeral for him Sunday if the church denied rites. Anti-euthanasia campaigners and some right-wing newspapers have described Welby’s death as murder.

“For me it was not a murder, absolutely. Piero died naturally, falling asleep and giving back his soul to the creator,” Mina Welby said.

Welby’s family said they learned of the Rome diocese’s decision to withhold a religious funeral when they tried to make arrangements with their local parish.

The Vatican – which maintains a strong influence on Italian politics – vehemently opposes euthanasia, insisting that life must be safeguarded from its beginning to its “natural” end, but says that extraordinary means need not be used.

Welby, 60, who was terminally ill with the degenerative disease muscular dystrophy, died on Wednesday after a long campaign which included writing a book and pleading with Italy’s president to be allowed to die.