Delayed Animation

Mediate rational animation was once a dominant theological opinion, but the Magisterium never taught it as something required to be held by Catholics, as is proved by the fact that immediate animation was always at least a tolerated opinion. There are papal statements, canons, and catechisms that take for granted the physical occurrence or at least the possibility of mediate rational animation, but none of these define it as a doctrine of faith or morals.

The Roman Catechism taught the true doctrine that the Incarnation was supernatural, but the supportive reason (i.e., that in the natural order some delay would be required) need not be considered dogmatic. Even in papal encyclicals teaching infallibly, only the doctrines defined are infallible, not necessarily the reasons given in argumentative support.

Donum Vitae does not require Catholics to hold a particular philosophical position about when the rational soul is imparted. It only confirms that procured abortion is morally condemned, following the constant teaching of the Church:

"Life once conceived, must be protected with the utmost care; abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes."

Abortion was always considered a mortal sin, punishable with a penance (and usually a civil penalty), even on the supposition of mediate rational animation. This is only consistent with the Church's constant teaching that the lesser crime of contraception is also grave.

The idea that medieval Christians were in any way tolerant of abortion is a myth. (It was likewise forbidden by Muslims, following Hippocrates.) The penalty was less than that of homicide, which is no proof of tolerance. The "40 days" belief had little practical import, since women were not definitely aware of their pregnancy until after this period, often not until quickening (sensible movement of fetus). Also, it was difficult to prosecute early term abortions since there was no way to prove that there had been an embryo in the first place or that the abortion technique caused death. In fact, we now know that many ancient abortion potions and techniques were totally ineffective.

Donum Vitae and other modern Magisterial documents do use new language in speaking of the zygote as a "human life" or a "human individual". This is not to be construed as implying an affirmation that the rational soul is imparted at conception. While the authors consider that the presence of an individual human life implies personhood and a rational soul, "The Magisterium has not expressly committed itself to an affirmation of a philosophical nature..."

Earlier documents took for granted that there could be no humanity unless there is a rational soul, which is the form of humanity. Yet modern biology allows us to recognize that an embryo need not be an undifferentiated potentiality in earlier stages of development. Even when the body has only vegetative or sensitive functions, there is already a distinctly human individual defined and gradually actualized by the genome. How can it be human and not actually rational when rationality defines humanity? For that matter, humans are bipeds and the embryo has no feet at first. Modern genetics lets us recognize the reality of a species character even before the defining characteristics are manifest in the formation of the body.

Speaking of the zygote as "human life" need not imply that abortion is equal to the crime of voluntary homicide, though it is literally "killing a human." The crime of homicide, like any crime against persons, occurs only when the victim is a person, and the Magisterium has expressly not defined that the embryo is a person.

Baptism was previously not allowed on embryos since there was no definite evidence of rational animation in them, and it would be sacrilegious to baptize what is inanimate or irrational. With the modern belief that there is now at least some evidence that an embryo may have a rational soul, baptism might be justified, though this has the practical limitation that baptism can be performed only on the living, and embryos die before miscarriage.

Mediate rational animation remains a tolerable opinion even in the modern Church. This opinion is not confined to those who wish to soften the Church's moral condemnation of abortion. Garrigou-Lagrange, for example, leaned toward mediate rational animation in his Commentary on the Third Part of the Summa (1945).

The question of when rational animation occurs does not have a great impact on moral theology, since abortion at all stages of development would remain a mortal sin. It only bears on the question of whether the guilt of that sin is equal to that of voluntary homicide (i.e. manslaughter) for earlier stages of development. Yet there has always been some ambiguity in ranking the severity of sins. The old canonical penances are no sure guide in this matter, since they were not attempts to provide objective measures of severity, but only to prescribe the conditions by which a sinner is restored to communion.