Do Mentally Challenged people have Souls?

[YosefYosep]

So, correct me if I am wrong, I know that an immortal human soul is a rational soul that endows a being with the faculties of intellect and will. In Catholic philosophy, would a severely mentally challenged person who does not have any grasp of abstract thoughts or ideas have a will? What about a person who becomes severely brain damaged? Does he lose his soul even though his body lives on??

 

[TheSurvivor]

Yes of course, mentally challenged people have souls.

 

[Nelka]

Yes!

 

[jmcrae]

So, correct me if I am wrong, I know that an immortal human soul is a rational soul that endows a being with the faculties of intellect and will. In Catholic philosophy, would a severely mentally challenged person who does not have any grasp of abstract thoughts or ideas have a will? What about a person who becomes severely brain damaged? Does he lose his soul even though his body lives on??

The soul is the life of the body. Human beings have rational souls, and it is because we have rational souls that it is possible for us to have intellect and will.

The soul is still rational, even if the brain isn’t working correctly. There are times when the physical body lets us down because of its imperfections. This does not make us less than human, even if the body part involved is the brain.

Also, you would be astounded at what brain-damaged people can understand, even though they can’t express themselves as you and I can.

 

[Catholic1954]

All human beings have immortal souls.

 

[captainrick]

Yes, of course.

 

[Arizona_Fat_Gir]

Mentally Challenged people have souls, no doubt about it. They just have a serious problem knowing things and understanding things.

Unfortunately, some people have denied this and called them “dummies” and other derogatory names.

 

[grasscutter]

What?!? Of course they do! By the very fact that they are human beings, they are created in God’s image.

If I understand what you might be asking: if someone is incapable of understanding grave matter, free will, and full consent… they cannot possibly be in an occasion of mortal sin.

 

[JosieN]

In my opinion they have the purest souls of all. Many don’t know right from wrong so they cannot sin and that is why they remind us of little children. Their innocence never leaves them.