Does the culpability question enter into all mortal sins. Some have lately spoke of suicide and I know someone who did it. He was not a believer though. But I don’t see how one could meet all the requirements mentally wise to commit suicide and have committed a mortal sin. There is something not right there if someone wants to take ones own life. What about culpability and “full knowledge”. I thought the only unforgivable sin was believing one wasn’t forgiven.
Culpability is a notion that’s critical to the question of mortal sin. Mortal sins are inherently culpable, since they require not only grave matter, but also full knowledge and deliberate consent.
The question, then, is whether one who commits suicide could
ever be considered to be capable of ‘deliberate consent.’ While it seems that it is possible, it seems far more likely that mental illness and/or duress are present in cases of attempted suicide, and therefore, it seems relatively unlikely that one who attempts suicide can be presumed to be operating from a position of ‘deliberate consent.’ For those who commit suicide, then, the proper attitude that we should take is one of prayer: we should pray that, for those who felt so cornered in by their life situation that suicide seemed the only answer, God’s mercy embraced them and led them to eternal life.
This is distinct from the question of ‘unforgivable sin’ – those who do not commit suicide, but rather, who refuse (during the course of their life) to approach the sacrament of reconciliation, reasoning that God will never forgive them, are a completely different case. Those who commit suicide are making a statement about
human life; those who refuse to ask God’s forgiveness are making a statement about
eternal life. These two cases are very different…
