Cannibalism

[Just_One_Touch]

I feel this may have been asked before, but is it still wrong to eat a dead person if you’re in a situation where the only chance for survival is to do so? I feel that it probably is, but I don’t know for sure.

 

[valentino]

I feel this may have been asked before, but is it still wrong to eat a dead person if you’re in a situation where the only chance for survival is to do so? I feel that it probably is, but I don’t know for sure.

I’ve never heard it said that it was wrong under such circumstances.

 

[mcteague]

On a side note, I will mention that I had a professor once who said that early Catholics could easily been considered cannibals by Romans overhearing the mass. I don’t know if there is any historical evidence. But I can see how someone not familiar with the religion could be horrified by “This is my body. You will eat it. This is my blood. You will drink it”
Anyway I thought it was an interesting theory.

 

[Warrior1979]

I have no idea what the Church’s position on the matter is. I do recall many years ago a Catholic priest commented on the situation involving the plane crash mentioned and said it was okay given the circumstances. However, I wouldn’t take one priest’s opinion as the opinion of the Church. Cannibalism was mentioned in the OT, and is was considered repugnant and abhorent.

 

[Rolltide]

The answer is yes, if there is NO other hope of survival, and the person to be cannibalized is already definitively dead of natural causes. When this plane crashed, most of the passengers were Catholic. The Vatican actually acknowledged an official ruling on this matter, stating that in this one very specific case, it fell under the same rules that would govern organ donation.