My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are thirteen (13) “In Brief” articles in the Catechism of the Catholic Church addressing the Fifth Commandment of the Decalogue, ‘You shall not kill.’ The following is a reflection on CCC 2328.
The Fifth Commandment, ‘You shall not kill’ includes more than the obvious immediate ramifications, not to kill the other person, not to allow the other person to kill you, and not to kill yourself, but also extends to the moral law and universal principles. Throughout the millennia many expressions of universal principles and human rights have been compiled, for example by the United Nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); the Geneva Convention (1864); the French Republic’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789); the American Declaration of Independence (1776), Constitution (1787), and Bill of Rights (1791); Magna Carta (1215) drafted by Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury; Cyrus Cylinder (539BC).
The natural moral law is able to be known by the powers of our human intelligence, reflected upon by human reason. The Decalogue is a revealed expression of the natural law. One aspect of the natural law, concerning the Fifth Commandment includes that even during armed conflicts, wars declared or not, the requirements and validity of the moral law remain. Once the principles of the “just war” have been met and battle joined, the human dignity of combatants and non-combatants are to be respected. Mother Church decries the various abuses of power during combat, such as the maiming of prisoners, raping of women, killing of non-combatants, genocide, indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with inhabitants and condemns such as crimes against both God and man (cf. Gaudium et spes, 80; CCC 2313–2314; Evangelium Vitae, 57). Total war, which claims that all the citizens of a belligerent nation are to be considered combatants is similarly rejected by Mother Church. Both terrorism and torture are contrary to the requirements of both reason and the moral doctrine of Mother Church which focus our attention on the dignity of the human person (CCC, 2148, 2297–2298). Both forms of violence, physical and moral, offend against the Fifth Commandment, poison human civilization and debase both perpetrators and victims (cf. Gaudium et spes, 27).
While torture is not proscribed by God in Sacred Scripture, the severe and intentional infliction of pain imposed as temporal punishment for convicted malefactors is (cf. Leviticus 20:1–2, 14; Deuteronomy 22:23–24; 25:1–3; Proverbs 13:24; Sirach 30:1, 9, 11–13). In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ does limit greatly the vindictiveness which had preceded His coming, no longer an “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” (Matthew 5:28). Saint Augustine, while recognizing the fallen state in which we live, nevertheless deplored the plight of those judicially tortured in the attempt to force confessions (cf. City of God 19:6). Field Marshal Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University gave a Distinguished Lecture on 22 January, 2014, available on YouTube addressing these things.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr