Jesus gave the Church the authority to enact laws that bind the consciences of the faithful. He said, “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:19; 18:18). When the Church enacts laws such as obligatory abstinence it is acting on this authority. Jesus said, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Lk 10:16).
Eating meat on Friday has never been intrinsically immoral. But deliberately and intentionally turning away from the Church that Jesus Christ established as necessary for our salvation while having full knowledge of the gravity of such an act is immoral – it is a mortal sin. Anyone who dies in a state of un-repented mortal sin has freely chosen to spend eternity outside the presence of God, i.e. “in hell”.
