CONTENTS
Fifth Commandment
Respect for Human Life
The Witness of Sacred History
Intentional Homicide
Abortion
Euthanasia
Notes
You shall not kill. (54)
You have heard that it was said to
the men of old, 'You shall not kill: and whoever kills shall be liable to
judgement.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall
be liable to judgement.
(55)
2258 'Human life is sacred
because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it
remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole
end. 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.'
(56)
1. Respect for
Human Life
The witness of sacred history
2259
In the
account of Abel's murder by his brother Cain,(57)
Scripture reveals the presence of anger and envy in man, consequences of
original sin, from the beginning of human history. Man has become the enemy of
his fellow man. God declares the wickedness of this fratricide: 'What have you
done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now
you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your
brother's blood from your hand.' (58)
2260
The
covenant between God and mankind is interwoven with reminders of God's gift of
human life and man's murderous violence:
The Old Testament always considered
blood a sacred sign of life.
(60) This teaching remains necessary for all
time.
2261
Scripture specifies the prohibition contained in the fifth commandment: 'Do not
slay the innocent and the righteous.'
(61) The deliberate murder of an innocent person
is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule and to
the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it
obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere.
2262
In the
Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recalls the commandment, 'You shall not kill'
(62) and adds to it the proscription of anger, hatred and vengeance.
Going further, Christ asks his disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their
enemies. (63) He did not defend himself and told Peter to leave his sword in
its sheath.(64)
Intentional homicide
2268
The
fifth commandment forbids direct and intentional killing as gravely sinful. The
murderer and those who co-operate voluntarily in murder commit a sin that cries
out to heaven for vengeance.
(68)
Infanticide,
(69) fratricide, parricide and the murder of
a spouse are especially grave crimes by reason of the natural bonds which
they break. Concern for eugenics or public health cannot justify any murder,
even if commanded by public authority.
2269
The
fifth commandment forbids doing anything with the intention of indirectly
bringing about a person's death. The moral law prohibits exposing someone to
mortal danger without grave reason, as well as refusing assistance to a person
in danger.
The acceptance by
human society of murderous famines, without efforts to remedy them, is a
scandalous injustice and a grave offence. Those whose usurious and avaricious
dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family
indirectly commit homicide, which is imputable to them .(70)
Unintentional
killing is
not
morally imputable. But one is not exonerated from grave offence if,
without proportionate reasons, one has acted in a way that brings about
someone's death, even without the intention to do so.
Abortion
2270
Human
life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.
From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as
having the rights of a person -- among which is the inviolable right of every
innocent being to life.(71)
Before I formed you in the womb
I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.
(72)
My frame was not hidden from
you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of
the earth .
(73)
2271
Since
the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured
abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct
abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is
gravely contrary to the moral law:
2272 Formal co-operation in
an abortion constitutes a grave offence. The Church attaches the canonical
penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. 'A person who
procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae'
(76) 'by the very commission of the offence',
(77) and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law .
(78) The Church does not thereby intend
to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime
committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as
well as to the parents and the whole of society.
2273
The
inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive
element of a civil society and its legislation:
'The
inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil
society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on
single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made
by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in
the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his
origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard
every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of
conception until death.'
(79)
'The moment a positive law
deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil
legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all
before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of
the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the
very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . As a
consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the
unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate
penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights.'
(80)
2274 Since it must
be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its
integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human
being.
Prenatal diagnosis
is morally licit,
'if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human foetus and is
directed toward its safeguarding or healing as an individual... It is gravely
opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing
an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent
of a death sentence.'
(81)
2275 'One must hold as licit
procedures carried out on the human embryo which respect the life and integrity
of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but are directed
toward its healing, the improvement of its condition of health, or its
individual survival.'
(82)
'It is immoral to produce human
embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material.'
(83)
'Certain attempts to
influence
chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at
producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined
qualities. Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human
being and his integrity and identity'
(84) which are unique and unrepeatable.
Euthanasia
2276 Those whose
lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped
persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.
2277 Whatever its
motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of
handicapped, sick or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.
Thus an act or
omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate
suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human
person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of
judgement into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of
this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.
2278
Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary,
or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal
of 'over-zealous' treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one's
inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made
by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled
to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must
always be respected.
2279
Even if
death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be
legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of
the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in
conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a
means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable. Palliative care is a
special form of disinterested charity. As such it should be encouraged.
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NOTES
54.
Ex 20:13; Dt 5:17.
55.
Mt
5:21-22.
56. CDF,
Instruction Donum vitae, intro. 5.
57. Cf.
Gen
4:8-12.
58.
Gen
4:10-11.
59.
Gen 9:5-6.
60.
Cf. Lev 17:14.
61.
Ex.23:7.
62.
Mt 5:21.
63. Cf
Mt 5:22-39, 44.
64. Cf.
Mt 26:52
68. Cf Gen
4:10.
69. Cf. GS
51 § 3.
70. Cf. Am
8:4-10.
71.
Cf CDF, Donum vitae I,1.
72. Jer
1:5;
cf Job 10:8-12; Ps 22:10-1 1.
73.
Ps.
139:15.
74.
Didache 2, 2: SCh 248, 148; cf Ep.Barnabae 19, 5: PG
2, 777; Ad
Diognetum 5, 6: PG 2, 1173; Tertullian, Apol. 9: PL 1,371.
75.
GS 51 §
3.
76.
CIC,
can. 1398.
77.
CIC,
can. 1314.
78. Cf.
CIC,
cann. 1323-1324.
79. CDF,
Donum
vitae III.
80. CDF,
Donum
vitae III.
81. CDF,
Donum
vitae I,2.
82. CDF,
Donum
vitae I,3.
83. CDF,
Donum
vitae I,5.
84. CDF,
Donum
vitae I,6.
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