“Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever 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.” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Instruction, Donum Vitae, Introduction 5)

The fifth commandment prohibits direct and intentional killing of the innocent.  Since the first century the Church has prohibited abortion and infanticide (1) and teaches that from the moment of conception the human being has the status and rights of personhood, most fundamentally, the right to life.(2) The inalienable right to life, from conception to natural death must be recognized and respected by both civil society and the state(3) and it is for this reason that Catholics, joined together with other Christians, religious believers and people of good will, advocate for legislation that will insure the protection of innocent life, especially of children not yet born.  For this reason the Church opposes medical therapies and scientific research which utilize human embryos or the tissue of unborn children who have been aborted.

Euthanasia (the direct or indirect killing of handicapped, the sick or the dying) and assisted suicide, (participating in or furnishing the means by which a person takes their own life) is always morally impermissible.  Even if well intentioned (such as to alleviate suffering) it is always a violation of human dignity.(4) Not only is life a precious gift from God which does not belong to us, but those who are disabled, sick, elderly, in pain or dying  deserve special consideration and care from their families and community, not a death sentence.

Traditionally, Church teaching, reasoning from the right of self-defense, has not excluded recourse to the death penalty if it was the only means of protecting society from violent wrongdoers.  However, at present  the Church opposes the imposition of capital punishment both because it now possible to protect society from violent offenders without the death penalty and because sparing the lives of the guilty offers them the opportunity to redeem themselves and is more in conformity with human dignity.(5)