As a Catholic I have researched this on occasion. This is an entry on another forum that I found to be quite useful:
Depends.
Catholics believe suicide when committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent is a complete separation from God (a mortal sin) and send a person to hell.
There are 3 conditions for a mortal sin: grave matter, full knowledge and deliberate consent.
While the suicide (or any kind of murder) is always a serious issue, people who commit suicide do not always have full knowledge of what they are doing. Definitely, drugs can affect thinking, like other things, such as diseases, intense pain or anguish.
Therefore, suicide is not automatically treated as a mortal sin.
We are commanded by Christ not to judge others by what they leave final decision to God who alone knows the heart of every person.
The Code of Canon Law does not list suicide as a reason for denying a person a Catholic funeral and burial in a Catholic cemetery. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__…http://www.holycrosscemeteries.com/faq/ # … Http://home.att.net/ ~ faithleap / suicide.h …
For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Mortal sin, paragraphs 1857-1859: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3s …
Suicide paragraphs 2282-2283: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3s …
I accept that, but I have always wondered about suicide in the face of capture by some Indians for instance, when many Christian Americans would kill themselves (and their children) rather than be captured by people who were experts in torture from lifelong study of pain and how to inflict it, while keeping a person alive for days.
I have also wondered about a soldier or aqent who knows too much to be taken alive, and must kill himself.
Thank you.
And based on what??? It doesn't matter what Catholics believe...What matters is, what does God say about it...And we know the bible says, 'there is no condemnation in those who are in Christ'...Case closed...