The sacredness of human life is so absolute that performing or helping procure an abortion or attempting suicide is an obstacle to ordination as a Catholic priest, even if the man was not Catholic at the time the events occurred, a new Vatican ruling has said.
Pope Francis approved the definitive interpretation of Church law at a meeting in May with officials of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, according to a Vatican statement.
Canon 1041 of the Code of Canon Law defines as "irregular for receiving orders" a person who has "committed voluntary homicide or procured a completed abortion and all those who positively cooperated in either," as well as "a person who has mutilated himself or another gravely and maliciously or who has attempted suicide."
