Murder

Murder is the unjust killing of a human being by one or more private individuals. Murder is a very grave sin againstcommutative justice. In the necessary killing of plants and animals which we use for food, there is no offense. Only in the unjustkilling of a human being is the sin of murder committed.

The execution, by public authority, of a person guilty of heinous crime, is not murder. Such an execution is no mere act of vengeance; it is the removal from the community, by competent authority, of one whose crime shows him to be a menace that seriously threatens the common good. As a man must sometimes have arm or leg amputated to save his life, so the body of the community must amputate seriously diseased members that threaten the whole group and its common life.

No private individual, or group of individuals, mayjustifiably take upon themselves the task of ridding the community of criminals by process of execution. Killings by such agencies are simply murders. Only the justly constituted public authority can lawfully inflict the death penalty.

Clerics must have no part in any killing. This is so because (a) they are to follow Christ closely in all they do, and Christ suffered without striking back or inflicting death on anyone; (b) they are the ministers of the New Law which appoints no death penalty.

Suicide, or self-murder, is a heinous sin against God,against nature, and against the community. To kill privately,whether the victim be oneself or another, is to usurp God’s place and power, for God alone is master of life and death. Our life is given us, not to own and to dispose of as we choose, but touse for God’s glory and our own salvation.

It is never lawful, even by public authority, to kill an innocent person, no matter what benefit may accrue to the community from his death.

If, in defending oneself against a murderous and unjustattack, one kills the assailant, there is no murder, but blamelessself-defense. Nor is there murder in the necessary and official acts of those authoritatively set to guard or defend the common good, such as policemen and soldiers.

A person who kills another by accident is without guilt if,when the fatal accident occurs, he is performing a lawful action and exercising due care.