Biblical Directive (2261-2262)
Scripture specifically says: "Do not slay the innocent and the righteous" (Ex 23:7). The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to man's dignity, to the golden rule and to the holiness of God. This law is universally valid, obliging everyone at all times and all places.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus went further. He prohibited anger, hatred and vengeance. Later, he asked his disciples to love their enemies. In his Passion, he did not defend himself and he told Peter to put away his sword.
Self Defense - The Principle of Double Effect (2263-2264)
The act of self-defense is not an exception to this prohibition. "The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one's own life and the killing of an aggressor. The one is intended, the other is not" (St. Thomas Aquinas).
Love for oneself is a fundamental principle of morality and defending one's life is not murder even if it results in the death of another.
"If a man, in self-defense, uses more than necessary violence, it is unlawful, whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful" (St. Thomas Aquinas).
Additional Items:
1.
scandal
(LL: scandalum, stumbling block)
Any word or action which has at least the appearance of evil, and which is the occasion of sin to another. It is a grave sin in grave matter because it is opposed to the law of charity. Christ speaks of scandal: "Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal, cometh." (Matthew 18)
New Catholic Dictionary
2.Euthanasia
(From Greek eu, well, and thanatos, death), deliberately taking the life of an ill person. This is here considered in so far as it may be artificially brought about by the employment of anaesthetics. When these last are of a character to deprive the sufferer of the use of reason, their effect at this supreme hour of human life is not viewed with approbation by the received teaching of the Catholic Church. The reason for this attitude is that this practice deprives a man of the capacity to act meritoriously at a time when the competency is most necessary and its product invested with finality.
Two passages from Evangelium Vitae(1995):
The deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of his life is always morally evil and can never be licit either as an end in itself or as a means to a good end. It is in fact a grave act of disobedience to the moral law, and indeed to God himself, the author and guarantor of that law; it contradicts the fundamental virtues of justice and charity. "Nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. Furthermore, no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly. Nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an action."
Within this same cultural climate, the body is no longer perceived as a properly personal reality, a sign and place of relations with others, with God and with the world. It is reduced to pure materiality: it is simply a complex of organs, functions and energies to be used according to the sole criteria of pleasure and efficiency. Consequently, sexuality too is depersonalized and exploited: from being the sign, place and language of love, that is, of the gift of self and acceptance of another, in all the other's richness as a person, it increasingly becomes the occasion and instrument for self-assertion and the selfish satisfaction of personal desires and instincts.
Thus the original import of human sexuality is distorted and falsified, and the two meanings, unitive and procreative, inherent in the very nature of the conjugal act, are artificially separated: in this way the marriage union is betrayed and its fruitfulness is subjected to the caprice of the couple. Procreation then becomes the "enemy" to be avoided in sexual activity: if it is welcomed, this is only because it expresses a desire, or indeed the intention, to have a child "at all costs", and not because it signifies the complete acceptance of the other and therefore an openness to the richness of life which the child represents.
In the materialistic perspective described so far, interpersonal relations are seriously impoverished. The first to be harmed are women, children, the sick or suffering, and the elderly. The criterion of personal dignity which demands respect, generosity and service-is replaced by the criterion of efficiency, functionality and usefulness: others are considered not for what they "are", but for what they "have, do and produce". This is the supremacy of the strong over the weak.
--Pope John Paul II
