Has There Been a Change in Church Teaching Regarding the Culpability of Suicide?

[meltzerboy]

I’m not sure but I believe Augustine regarded suicide in any circumstance as a mortal sin that would condemn a person to Hell without the benefit of Purgatory. Please correct me if I’m wrong about this. Anyhow, my basic question is, have there been any changes in the way the Church looks at suicide with respect to culpability and dependent on circumstances?

 

[Trishie]

Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding suicide…and regardless, St Augustine isn’t the Pope, however blessed.

2280 Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him.
It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life.
We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls.
We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us.
It is not ours to dispose of.

2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life.
It is gravely contrary to the just love of self.
It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations.
Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.

2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal.
Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.

 

[meltzerboy]

Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding suicide…and regardless, St Augustine isn’t the Pope, however blessed.

2280 Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him.
It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life.
We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls.
We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us.
It is not ours to dispose of.

2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life.
It is gravely contrary to the just love of self.
It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations.
Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.

2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal.
Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.

Thank you so much for this information, Trishie! I wonder too if there is any direct Scriptural basis in addition to the Catechism.

 

[Ron_in_minden]

I think the prohibition is in the 10 commandments, scripturally speaking.

 

[Bubba_Switzler]

I’m not sure but I believe Augustine regarded suicide in any circumstance as a mortal sin that would condemn a person to Hell without the benefit of Purgatory. Please correct me if I’m wrong about this. Anyhow, my basic question is, have there been any changes in the way the Church looks at suicide with respect to culpability and dependent on circumstances?

I think you are correct in noticing a change in the way that the Church looks at suicide. Although, as quoted previously, the Church opposes suicide on principle, it seems more open now to the idea that those who commit suicide are not always thinking responsibly which is an essential element of mortal sin wheras previously it was generally presumed to be a rational, intentional act.

So it’s not the external circumstances (e.g. terminal illness) but rather then psychological state (e.g. clinical depression) of the individual where the change has occured.

Thus you are more likely today to hear a priest console survivors on this basis, assuming of course that there is some evidence to support it.

 

[larsenl1]

I think you are correct in noticing a change in the way that the Church looks at suicide. Although, as quoted previously, the Church opposes suicide on principle, it seems more open now to the idea that those who commit suicide are not always thinking responsibly which is an essential element of mortal sin wheras previously it was generally presumed to be a rational, intentional act.

So it’s not the external circumstances (e.g. terminal illness) but rather then psychological state (e.g. clinical depression) of the individual where the change has occured.

Thus you are more likely today to hear a priest console survivors on this basis, assuming of course that there is some evidence to support it.

This is correct. Speaking as a person who lost a family member due to suicide and there was evidence of clinical depression and possibly other mental illness.

The church today has more knowledge about mental illness than what was available to early church fathers. The church today recognizes that in some cases a human being who believes that death is the best solution because there is no hope, that he/she is a bad person, is suffering a great tribulation and may not be responsible for his/her own actions.

Truth be told, there has never been a document telling us the names of human beings in hell. We have canonized saints in heaven, we have Jesus warning us about hell, but we do not know the souls that have been damned. That is all human speculation. Only God knows the state of one’s soul at the moment of death and then at the moment of personal judgment.