STORY 1: A widow of a man who died by suicide once inquired about the state of her husband’s soul, and Padre Pio replied, “He’s saved. Between the bridge and the river he repented.”
STORY 2: A woman went to Padre Pio to know about her brother, who had committed suicide after a financial difficulty. She went to his Mass but was unable to talk to him. She sat in church, crying and praying, while Padre Pio was confessing. At a certain moment she got a nudge and was told: “Padre Pio is calling you.” She turned towards the confessional. Padre Pio was making a sign to her with the hand, to approach the confessional. She did, and kneeled in front of him, and Padre Pio said: “Don’t worry, stay calm, he is saved.”
STORY 3: Padre Pio was praying for a long time, and his doctor approached him about what he was doing. Padre Pio said his doctor: "I am praying for the good death of my great grandfather."
Doctor: "But he died over a hundred years ago."
Padre Pio: "Remember that for God there is no past and no future. So God made use at that time of the prayers I am saying now."
STORY 4: A woman who told St. John Vianney that she was devastated because her husband had committed suicide. She wanted to approach the great priest but his line often lasted for hours and she could not reach him. She was ready to give up and in a moment of mystical insight that only a great saint can receive, John Vianney exclaimed through the crowd, “He is saved!” The woman was incredulous so the saint repeated, stressing each word, “I tell you he is saved. He is in Purgatory, and you must pray for him. Between the parapet of the bridge and the water he had time to make an act of contrition.”
STORY 5: In 1993 years before becoming a priest, Fr. Chris Alar's grandmother died by suicide. The family’s heartbreak was amplified by what they perceived to be the Church’s teaching on suicide. “I had always learned that if you take your own life, it’s damnation,” he says. “And for years our family never talked about it because no one wanted to have the burden of discussing our grandmother who we believed was in hell.” Fr. Chris explains that it wasn’t until he started practicing his faith years later that he learned that this was not the teaching of the Church.
Fr. Chris explains that years after his grandmother’s death, a priest told him he can still pray for her, “I said ‘Father, how? She’s already been judged.’ And he told me that God is outside of time. There’s no past. There’s no future. Everything is present eternally at one moment to God. … God will take my prayer into account for my grandmother at the moment of her death years ago.”
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:
2280 Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.
2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.
2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.
2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.