DocJackson:
I have been looking for an answer to a question for a very long time, it may have already have been answered here, so if it has been answered already, I apologize.
About eleven years ago I was stationed in Mogadishu, Somalia as a medic with the 10th mountain division. I was involved in several firefights with the armed Somali militia including the battle recently portrayed in the movie “Black Hawk Down”. During these fights I know that I was responsible for ending the life of at least one young Somali and may have been responsible for the death of several more, none of which were innocent civilians.
The 6th commandment says ‘thou shalt not kill’ and never gives exception such as ‘thou shalt not kill, unless your in a war’ or ‘thou shalt not kill, except in case of self defense’
I was baptised and raised Catholic, although I have been away from the church for a while. This question has been heavy on my mind for many years. I appreciate any (name removed by moderator)ut.
First of all. It’s the 5th commandment. Do not follow the flawed Protestant numbering. There are reasons why there numbering is flawed. But let’s not get into that now.
Here’s CCC to the rescue (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Legitimate defense
2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. **“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.”**65
2264 Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life.
Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow:
If a man in self-defense uses
more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful. . . . Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one’s own life than of another’s.66
2265 Legitimate defense can be
not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.
2266 The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people’s rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense. When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people’s safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party.67
2267 Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church **does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. **
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity **“are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.”**68
