In comments to Italian daily Corriere della Sera, published on Saturday, Conte said that while he had no doubt about the right to life, he was not so sure about the right to die.
The comments came after the constitutional court last Wednesday ruled that assisted suicide could be allowed, despite a law forbidding it in Italy.
“To choose to be taken towards death and to ask help from personnel for that, who must be specialised; there some doubt is permitted,” Conte said.
“And if one did get to that, one would have to at least recognise a conscientious objection for anyone who did not feel capable [of taking part].”
Wednesday’s court ruling stressed that assisted suicide could only concern patients with incurable conditions who were being kept alive artificially and whose physical and psychological suffering was judged to be unbearable.
The patients would also have to be fully capable of making such a decision freely and consciously, the court added.
The court also stated that its decision had been taken in the expectation that parliament would make the relevant changes to existing law.
Italy, which is predominately Catholic, currently forbids euthanasia, and has laws punishing instigating or assisting suicide with up to 12 years in prison.
