The Catholic Church teaches that man is created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26).
As such, each human life is sacred, from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. As the Catechism states, “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever [sic] in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being” (2258) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Furthermore, “Scripture specifies the prohibition contained in the fifth commandment: ‘Do not slay the innocent and the righteous.’ The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere” (2261).
In addition to the well-known prohibitions of abortion (2270-75) and euthanasia (2276-79), the Catechism condemns the taking of one’s own life (with mental illness as a mitigating factor of one’s culpability (2282)): “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” (2280).
Imprisoned in the Tower of London, St. Thomas More likely knew of his impending death. Thus, in light of the Church’s teachings on human life, one might ask, Did More not have a duty to preserve his life, which God had entrusted to him? Should he have saved himself by renouncing the pope, as King Henry had demanded? Did More violate Church teaching by choosing to die?
The answers to these questions—all of which are in the negative—involve the Church’s theology of martyrdom. I will turn to this issue in the next few posts.
St. Thomas More, pray for us!