The act of Bishop John Joseph of Faisalabad in taking his own life in solidarity with Pakistani Christians condemned under the country’s blasphemy law is deeply shocking, as inevitably he knew it would be. It was his final protest against the law after other actions had brought no result. But the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes suicide as contrary to love of self, neighbour, and God and adds that "if suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it takes on the gravity of a scandal".

Yet the bishop’s nephew, writing on the opposite page of The Tablet, refuses to put his uncle’s death into his context. The condemnation of suicide is so severe because it is usually an act of despair, the ultimate denial of God’s grace. But this was not the bishop’s motivation; on the contrary. His nephew stresses John Joseph’s willingness to stake everything-in this case, his life-on what he believed, and sees his death as the shepherd giving his life for the sheep.

There seems no doubt that the bishop’s act was freely chosen. It cannot be argued that his responsibility was less because his judgement was momentarily impaired. He was under great stress, as so often, but there is no reason to think he cracked under it. On the contrary, for some time he had publicly expressed his readiness to give the sacrifice of his blood for the benefit of the Lord’s people.

Yet the Christian tradition is firm that martyrdom must not be sought. It may be accepted as inevitable, but must not be courted. Bishop Joseph, however, it seems, far from seeking to avoid martyrdom, embraced it so that others might live. There are examples of self-sacrifice within Western tradition which seem very close. But when Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward at Auschwitz to take the place of a married man in the condemned cell, that was not suicide. He did not die by his own hand. It was the act of a saint.

But what then of Captain Oates, at the end of his strength and hindering his companions as they fought to make their way back from the South Pole in 1912? When he crawled of the tent into the blizzard, with the unbearably moving words, " I am just going outside, and I may be some time", was that suicide? One knows it was the self-sacrificial act of a hero.

We should honour those who feel the same about Bishop John Joseph. Within the Western tradition the nearest parallel to his death could be the self-immolation of the Czech student Jan Palach in 1969 in protest against the brutal Russian invasion of his country. Referring to this suicide, Pope Paul VI made a carefully balanced statement. " We can uphold the values that put self-sacrifice above others to the supreme test", he said, but added that "we cannot approve the tragic form taken on behalf of their aims".

Cardinal Beran, the former Archbishop of Prague, paid tribute to Jan Palach on Vatican Radio. "His idea", the cardinal said, " was fundamentally both optimistic and mysterious: that of the sacrifice of a man for the salvation of others," But he added: "I cannot approve of his desperate gesture. Let nobody do this thing again."

"Mysterious", Cardinal Beran said, the morality of Bishop Joseph’s act is bound to remain problematic, especially since he was an apostle of non-violence. May his sacrifice not be in vain. As the Pakistani bishops at the Synod for Asia in Rome put it: " We believe that the Lord he sought so heroically to serve will now prove to be his merciful judge, and give him the reward he deserves."