In Fr. Serpa’s story (in the link’ed post) the man, presumably a just, holy Catholic, commits a mortal sin, maybe his first in decades. Lets assume that if he had time to think about what he did he would repentant and ask for forgiveness. Unfortunately, he dies moments later.
First, we don’t know the mental state of the man in question. We don’t know if he considered the ramifications of his act. We don’t know if he willfully rejected the will of God. We need to look at what a mortal sin is. I recommend rather than attempting to learn the correct answer here on a forum, you research the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is an excellent site:
scborromeo.org/ccc.htm
Look up CHAPTER ONE, THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON; ARTICLE 8, SIN; I. MERCY AND SIN
Sin is not an accident. “Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God”. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It is “an offense against God”. Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. It is “a revolt against God”. “Sin is thus “love of oneself even to contempt of God.” In this proud self- exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.”
Sin come from the heart, you need to really mean to reject God. “The root of sin is in the heart of man, in his free will, according to the teaching of the Lord: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.” But in the heart also resides charity, the source of the good and pure works, which sin wounds.” “Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.”
For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”
To sin you need to evaluate the action or inaction, if it is an offense against God and how serious a violation against God it is. “Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent.” You need to have full knowledge that it is an offense. You need to willfully, with full consent, with a deliberate and personal choice, act against the command of God. It is a rejection of the authority of God in your life. It is not an idle act. “The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders.”
“Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace.”
Some of you have implied God would judge the man’s entire life - that sounds reasonable and what I expected. That’s not what Fr. Serpa said. He said he would spend eternity in hell. I can’t say how wrong that seems to me.
No, what Fr Serpa said was that if a person had committed a mortal sin and died without being “able to ask pardon of the Lord in the last seconds of his life”, he would go to hell. I doubt the conditions described constitute a mortal sin but God would decide. Quoting the Catechism yet one more time:
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http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm:
1874 To choose deliberately - that is, both knowing it and willing it - something gravely contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of man is to commit a mortal sin. This destroys in us the charity without which eternal beatitude is impossible. Unrepented, it brings eternal death.
Let me add a bit of a personal note. My wife and I, both Catholic candidates, were discussing this last night. She got angry, saying maybe this isn’t the religion for her. I didn’t go that far, but the more I think about this, the more angry I get! Help!
Please read the Catechism. Paragraphs 1849 - 1876
