CCC 2260

The covenant between God and mankind is interwoven with reminders of God's gift of human life and man's murderous violence:

For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning.... Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.⁵⁹ Gen 9:5-6.

The Old Testament always considered blood a sacred sign of life.⁶⁰ Cf. Lev 17:14 This teaching remains necessary for all time.