Moral dilemma: Shall a Catholic priest, as a means of saving hundreds of innocent lives, publicly (apparently) renounce the divinity of Jesus Christ?

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My wife read a book by a Japanese author (translated into Korean) that was likely historical fiction. Nevertheless it contained a moral dilemma that I’d like to see discussed on Catholic.com!

In general terms:

A civil authority has imprisoned a priest and begins to steadily torture and murder his innocent new converts (in his plain sight), of which there are hundreds, imprisoned with him. The official of the civil authority who is directing the killing promises the priest that he will stop torturing and killing the priest’s followers if the priest will renounce Jesus Christ and step on an image of Jesus Christ.
(Simplifying assumption: assume that the official will in fact keep his word)

What should the priest do? If there is only one right answer, I’d like to know the Catholic moral justification for it (hopefully by a highly qualified Catholic priest)
 
Do not renounce Christ!

"11Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

Matthew 5:11-12

Catholics and Christians have faced persecution since the beginning of the faith. This is no easy or cowardly thing to do, but it is the right thing to do. You should look up all the Martyrs canonized as Saints in the Church (Eastern and Western). One should not be incredibly afraid of dying a Martyr’s death; for we can trust in Jesus Christ, our Lord and his resurrection, eternal joy, and everlasting life. Let us all pray that we have the strength and the faith to be obedient to God until death as the Lord was.
 
I think there is only one answer: the priest should not renounce the divinity of Christ.
  1. The Church teaches that, even “a good intention… does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying or calumny, good or just. The end does not justify the means. Thus the condemnation of an innocent person cannot be justified as a legitimate means of saving the nation” (CCC 1753). Even if the priest has the good intention of saving hundreds of innocent lives, he cannot commit the intrinsically immoral act of renouncing the divinity of Christ.
  2. Even if the priest is doing it “for show” - i.e. without actually renouncing Christ - he at the very least commits the sin of scandal. What will the new converts think if their priest renounced his belief, aside from the possible indignation at having been fooled into this religion that the priest himself seemingly no longer believes?
  3. Ideally, neither the priest nor the new converts should fear persecution (even death) for the sake of their beliefs. Both would be martyrs for Christ - they are all suffering for their beliefs.
 
tmellin said:
My wife read a book by a Japanese author (translated into Korean) that was likely historical fiction. Nevertheless it contained a moral dilemma that I’d like to see discussed on Catholic.com!

In general terms:

A civil authority has imprisoned a priest and begins to steadily torture and murder his innocent new converts (in his plain sight), of which there are hundreds, imprisoned with him. The official of the civil authority who is directing the killing promises the priest that he will stop torturing and killing the priest’s followers if the priest will renounce Jesus Christ and step on an image of Jesus Christ.
(Simplifying assumption: assume that the official will in fact keep his word)

What should the priest do? If there is only one right answer, I’d like to know the Catholic moral justification for it (hopefully by a highly qualified Catholic priest)
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The Priest may not deny Christ.
If he does, he loses his credibility with his flock, whom he has taught (presumably) that we must not deny Christ, even on pain of death.
Each person who dies, for the faith is, in fact, SAVING their Life and not losing it. (He who would save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it Mt 16:25) So, while the Civil authority might 'Think" he is injuring the Priest and the Faithful, he is really granting them the privilage of martyrdom and providing a heavenly crown.
Christ said, he who denies me, I will deny before the Father. (paraphrased)
That is the correct answer from the purly doctrinal standpoint.

Now whether the Priest (Or any of us) would have the courage to do so, is another matter.

Peace
James
 
Many went to the cross, and many a believer stood at the foot and cried, and did nothing. They had to be brave even at the cost of each other. Yes you could do it but you would never be the same after. Blessing’s and Peace Nancy
 
Here’s my wife’s answer:

The priest should never renounce the divinity of Christ. Her justification is as follows:

This scenario parallels the temptation of Jesus by Satan. Just as Jesus never denied his Father, the priest can never deny Jesus Christ, even if it means the death of many innocent people.
 
marchoi said:
“a good intention… does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying or calumny, good or just. The end does not justify the means. Thus the condemnation of an innocent person cannot be justified as a legitimate means of saving the nation” (CCC 1753). Even if the priest has the good intention of saving hundreds of innocent lives, he cannot commit the intrinsically immoral act of renouncing the divinity of Christ.
Click to expand...
Thank you for drawing this perfectly relevant principle from the CCC and bringing it to bear as a “solution” to this dilemma!
 
tmellin said:
My wife read a book by a Japanese author (translated into Korean) that was likely historical fiction. Nevertheless it contained a moral dilemma that I’d like to see discussed on Catholic.com!

In general terms:

A civil authority has imprisoned a priest and begins to steadily torture and murder his innocent new converts (in his plain sight), of which there are hundreds, imprisoned with him. The official of the civil authority who is directing the killing promises the priest that he will stop torturing and killing the priest’s followers if the priest will renounce Jesus Christ and step on an image of Jesus Christ.
(Simplifying assumption: assume that the official will in fact keep his word)

What should the priest do? If there is only one right answer, I’d like to know the Catholic moral justification for it (hopefully by a highly qualified Catholic priest)
Click to expand...
I would applaud the new saints and pray for their entry into heaven and awaite my own. We, Catholics are here to love honor and to serve the Father and be happy forever with Him in heaven, that is why we were born, we will live forever with Jesus and His Mother in heaven doing God;s will. as it is in our gearts to love Him.
The priest who renounces Jesus will be renounced by the Father and spend eternity in hell, possitive, period.!!!:(:(:(:(👍👍👍😊
I’m a peaceful man, but I would like to have the opporturnity to tell that person who disgraced his vows to go to hell.
 
tmellin said:
Here’s my wife’s answer:

The priest should never renounce the divinity of Christ. Her justification is as follows:

This scenario parallels the temptation of Jesus by Satan. Just as Jesus never denied his Father, the priest can never deny Jesus Christ, even if it means the death of many innocent people.
Click to expand...
🙂 That was beautiful, your wife is very smart and knows the truth God Bless her! Love of Christ Nancy
 
and the blood of the Martyr’s is for naught? That is the cowards way. These men are supposed to be priests and Bishops. They are supposed to spiritual leaders.

Lets face it none of us are getting out of here alive anyway. May as well be a little heroic about it.
 
Our Lord said ‘whoever denies Me before men, I will deny him before my Father’. (Matt 10:33)

So the short answer to your ‘dilemma’ is no. The long answer is NOOOO.
 
tmellin said:
My wife read a book by a Japanese author (translated into Korean) that was likely historical fiction. Nevertheless it contained a moral dilemma that I’d like to see discussed on Catholic.com!

In general terms:

A civil authority has imprisoned a priest and begins to steadily torture and murder his innocent new converts (in his plain sight), of which there are hundreds, imprisoned with him. The official of the civil authority who is directing the killing promises the priest that he will stop torturing and killing the priest’s followers if the priest will renounce Jesus Christ and step on an image of Jesus Christ.
(Simplifying assumption: assume that the official will in fact keep his word)

What should the priest do? If there is only one right answer, I’d like to know the Catholic moral justification for it (hopefully by a highly qualified Catholic priest)
Click to expand...
The end does not justify the means. Also, in such a case, the guilt of murder is not on the priest, it is exclusively on the Japanese officials. They are the ones intent on killing his friends and tempting him to deny Christ. Also, how does the priest know that they will not kill his friends anyway after he obeys them? There’s no way of knowing that, since because of their wickedness they have no reason to keep their word.The priest’s friends would be glorious martyrs if the priest is faithful to Christ and they themselves embrace Christ. Life on earth is worthless if we deny Christ. It is our last end that is our goal. We do not live life just for it’s own sake, we live life to reach our final goal to be with God. We have to order everything in our lives in a way that prepares us for our last end. As Sylvester Stallone said in his most recent Rambo film when trying to motivate his fellow frightened mercenaries into saving the innocent missionaries from their captors: “Live for nothing, or die for something.” This secular movie quote brings wisdom to this case you described. It is better to be martyred for God than to live a worthless meaningless futile life without God just so you can enjoy the little temporary material pleasures in it, suffer illness, and then die. We all die sometime whether sooner or later and will be accountable to the Supreme Judge.
 
In the interest of knowledge, may I ask to others, would the situation be different if by renouncing JESUS, the priest would save, not recent converts, but those who have either already abandoned JESUS or were pagans?

I expect the answer to be that he should not renounce JESUS, but I’m just curious…

Pax.
 
JSSebastianoP said:
In the interest of knowledge, may I ask to others, would the situation be different if by renouncing JESUS, the priest would save, not recent converts, but those who have either already abandoned JESUS or were pagans?

I expect the answer to be that he should not renounce JESUS, but I’m just curious…

Pax.
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tHE VERY WEEK and pagans are thr ones that raly need to be saved I would die for them i f i knew they would have a chance to be saved. Jesus died for the good and the bad and rightous and the un rightous, all were in portant to him, and should be the same for us You wan to look fort the lost sheep not those who are already in the fold.👍
 
JSSebastianoP said:
In the interest of knowledge, may I ask to others, would the situation be different if by renouncing JESUS, the priest would save, not recent converts, but those who have either already abandoned JESUS or were pagans?

I expect the answer to be that he should not renounce JESUS, but I’m just curious…

Pax.
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The answer you expect is correct.
    • “What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world but lose his soul”
    • The Priest is not responsible for the deaths of these people, those ordering the killing are.
    • Those who knew and “abandoned Jesus”, are placed in the unfortunate position of dieing with this rejection on their souls
    • Those who die without having had the chance to convert will be judged by God seperately by His mercy.
The priest may not renounce Jesus.

peace
James
 
I am guessing the book is silence by shusaku endo and the right thing to do is renounce JC and spare the peasants the torture of the pit.
 
Tosk said:
I am guessing the book is silence by shusaku endo and **the right thing to do is renounce JC **and spare the peasants the torture of the pit.
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Is this your answer or the books answer.

In Either case, would you explain why?

Peace
James
 
Tosk said:
I am guessing the book is silence by shusaku endo and the right thing to do is renounce JC and spare the peasants the torture of the pit.
Click to expand...
I guessed that as well, but as much of a great author Shusaku is, perhaps all he was portraying was the priests weakness. 🤷

Thank you to those who replied to my separate but related question. 🙂

Pax.
 
JRKH said:
Is this your answer or the books answer.

In Either case, would you explain why?

Peace
James
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I don’t want to give up to much for anyone who hasn’t read the book. It is a really good novel but very heartbreaking.

It is the same situation as someone who has to lie to save a life. They shouldn’t lie but they should make use of a mental reservation if they can to save a life. I really can’t imagine Jesus wanting thousands of people tortured to death over weeks rather than have someone spit on a picture of Him.
 
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