Bishop Thomas John Paprocki: Entrusting Suicide Victims to Divine Mercy

The church teaches that, “We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of. … Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.”

However, the church also teaches that, “Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide. We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2280-2283.)

From 1917 to 1983, the church’s canon law said that “those who killed themselves of a deliberate purpose” were to be deprived of ecclesiastical burial. This provision was dropped from the revised Code of Canon Law promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1983, which is still the current norm. One of the main reasons for this change is a greater understanding of the “grave psychological disturbances” mentioned above that can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

~ Bishop Thomas John Paprocki; excerpt from here ~

~ From Divine Mercy for Lost Souls:
To join our team to pray for the souls in Purgatory who have committed suicide,
for the salvation of those who are in the midst of committing suicide (for their final repentance),
and/or those who are contemplating suicide
(that they come to know God's love and do not follow through with it) ~