Life should begin, end according to God’s prerogative

Article 154 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series

Paragraphs 2258-2269

 

The Fifth Commandment teaches: “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17).

It seems that God included this in the “Ten Commandments” because “scripture reveals the presence of anger and envy in man, [the] consequences of original sin, from the beginning of human history” (ccc 2259). Even before God gave us the Commandments, Sacred Scripture recorded five accounts of murder or attempted murder, including:

1. Cain killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8-16).

2. Esau plotted to kill his brother Jacob (Genesis 27:41-45).

3. Joseph’s brothers were going to kill him (Genesis 37:1).

4. In Egypt, the midwives were told to kill all the newborn boys (Exodus 1:15-16).

5. Moses killed the Egyptian soldier who was beating an Israelite (Exodus 2:12).

The point of the Fifth Commandment is that human life should begin and end according to God’s prerogative alone. “God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being” (ccc 2258).

The Fifth Commandment asks that we take proper care of our own spiritual and bodily well-being, and of that of our neighbor. In addition to murder and suicide, it forbids all things that are injurious to the health of either body or soul, including anger, fighting, revenge, drunkenness, bad example, etc. We learn this as well from the New Testament’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, when “the Lord recalls the Commandment, ‘You shall not kill,’ and adds to it the proscription of anger, hatred, and vengeance. Going further, Christ asks his own disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies.

We discover through the books of the Old Testament that “the covenant between God and humankind is interwoven with reminders of God’s gift of human life and humanity’s murderous violence” (ccc 2260). Not only is “the deliberate murder of an innocent person gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator” (ccc 2261), but “the law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere” (ccc 2261).

Next, the Catechism takes up the subject of “Legitimate Defense.” Here we are instructed that love for oneself is “a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life” (ccc 2264). Further, we are told: “Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow” (ccc 2264). It is here where the Church recognizes the principle of double-effect that Saint Thomas Aquinas helped articulate. Quoting Saint Thomas, the Catechism explains: “The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor...The one is intended, the other is not” (ccc 2263).

Expanding on this, we are taught that the love we have for the dignity of our own life supersedes that of an aggressor. Again, relying on Aquinas, the Catechism quotes: “If a person in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful” (ccc 2264).

Next, the topic of “legitimate defense” is discussed in the context of those in legitimate authority who are responsible for the lives of others. The Catechism explains: “The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm...those who legitimately hold authority [even] have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility” (ccc 2265).

In response to those who cause harm to society, the Catechism recognizes certain circumstances when a “legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense” (ccc 2266). Although “punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense,” as well as “defending public order and protecting people’s safety...as far as possible, it must [also] contribute to the correction of the guilty party” (ccc 2266).

The paragraph which follows, prior to August 2018, contained the traditional teaching of the Church on the death penalty. The Catechism used a softer language, permitting the death penalty…“if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor,” while noting that “the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity ‘are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.’” (ccc 2267).

On August 2, 2018, the Vatican labelled capital punishment “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” and deemed it “inadmissible” in all cases; and, at that time, the Catechism was revised to unambiguously oppose capital punishment. The new version (ccc 2267) now commits the Church to work “with determination” to abolish the death penalty worldwide.

The shift in this teaching on the death penalty refocuses our commitment on the importance of redemption, even for those that society would normally view as unredeemable. The popular example is that of Alessandro Serenelli, the 20-year-old killer of 11-year-old Saint Maria Goretti, stabbed 14 times because she refused Alessandro’s advances. He remained unrepentant and uncommunicative from the world for 3 years until he finally repented. In 1950, he attended Maria’s canonization, later becoming a lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, living and working in a monastery until his death at 87 in 1970.

Appropriately, the final theme in this section pertains to “intentional and indirect homicide.” The Fifth Commandment “forbids direct and intentional killing as gravely sinful” (ccc 2268). The Catechism contends: “The murderer and those who cooperate voluntarily in murder commit a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance” (ccc 2268). The Catechism further teaches that “moral law prohibits exposing someone to mortal danger without grave reason... [and] refusing assistance to a person in danger.” (ccc 2269) Therefore, if someone indirectly causes a person’s death, they are deemed likewise liable...a construct not open to any other interpretation.

Father Hillier serves as Director of the Diocesan Office of the Pontifical Missions, the Office for Persons with disabilities, and Censor Librorum