Law, Justice, Mercy and Forgiveness from a Catholic Perspective, by Robert Fastiggi

This article is part of our “Religious Reflections on Forgiveness in Law” series. If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here.

From a Catholic perspective, law, justice, mercy, and forgiveness ultimately converge in God, who is the ultimate source of law and combines justice, mercy, and forgiveness in his dealings with human beings. The classic Catholic definition of law comes from Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) who said that law “is nothing else than an ordinance of reason for the common good promulgated by the one who has care of the community” (Summa theologiae [ST] I-II, q. 90. a. 4). Since God is the creator, he has care for the whole community of creation, especially human beings who are created in his image and likeness (Gen 1:26–27). God’s law can be understood as his ordinance of reason for the common good of the human race. According to Aquinas, God communicates his law in two main ways: the natural law and the revealed law. (read the full paper here)