Moral Life
Natural Law and Moral Teaching
God has written a moral law on every human heart, knowable by reason even apart from revelation, which the Church's moral teaching articulates and applies.
Catholic teaching
Natural law reflects the eternal law of God as it is inscribed in human nature and reason, providing a universal foundation for morality accessible to believers and non-believers alike. Catholic moral teaching does not impose arbitrary rules but seeks to unfold the implications of this law for the flourishing of the human person made in God's image.
Biblical foundation
Paul teaches that even Gentiles who never received the Law 'show that what the law requires is written on their hearts,' their conscience bearing witness. The Psalmist praises God's law as more precious than gold and as light for the path of life.
Scripture references
Historical evidence
St. Thomas Aquinas systematized natural law theory in the thirteenth century drawing on Scripture, Augustine, and Aristotle, but its roots run through the whole patristic tradition, which consistently taught that pagan philosophers could grasp real moral truths by reason alone.
The Church Fathers
“Whatever things were rightly said among all men are the property of us Christians... for all the writers were able to see realities darkly through the sowing of the implanted word that was in them.”