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Goodmorning Fr. Angelo.  

Even though I am not a learned person with regards to ecclesiastical matters, I can’t see a causal link between sin and the ‘’end’’ of the other realities/entities in the cosmos.I don’t even believe that physical death depends upon guilt, but rather that it is preexistent to guilt due to some unfathomable divine design (here, I am conscious of it, I am moving away from doctrine, from S. Paul, into thomism and up to nowadays). 
If Earth  disappears in 5 billion years, just like the sun will sooner or later, and evaporation is on the cards for black holes too, this does surely not stem from human guilt. The aggregation and disaggregation of matter are characteristics of our universe. 

To believe that instead it could stem from the sin of a being which measures one thousand billionth of a meter of the diameter of our universe (1 E-27 m), I believe is part of an Aristotelian-Ptolemaic conception of Creation. 
The question to be solved  is: would man have equally died, had he not sinned? My answer is, yes he would have. Because that’s the way it goes in our universe and therefore in the divine design. 
Absurdly, if Jesus hadn’t had any enemies, would He still be here roaming the earth two thousand years later? And again, did Mary die only not to be better than her son?
Sin certainly breaks harmony with Creation, but it can’t pollute more than to a certain extent things that are not in the realm of man. 

The aggregation and disaggregation of matter are part of this universe. Just like any other of its things. Mankind too has an end. Physical end that is not due to sin.
To me it is absurd to think – this is why, otherwise, I hark back to Ptolemy – that what preceded the appearance of human beings inherited a “corruption” because of a sin that  hadn’t been committed yet. (e.g. the mass extinction event in the Cretaceous era: did these animals die because of someone who would rise on the scene sixty million years later?). In the same way, a star dies today because of precise physical laws (wanted by God); nor is it conceivable to think that a sea urchin or a starfish, organisms without a brain, die (of natural death) because of human guilt.
Human beings have been created with some set characteristics, death included. We have perhaps a too negative view of death, as in the end it is a dividing line with respect to a reality preexisting to us but that without death, we would continue to ignore for the best part.

Thank you for your reply,
Andrea

Answer from the priest

Dear Andrea,
1. in your email you list various matters, some of which are not presented correctly.
I want to focus on the matter of death.

It is true that man from a natural point of view is subject to death.
Just like all other animals are subject to death.
Animals predating man were also subject to death.
Nobody has ever taught that animals preexisting the appearance of man or present in Eden were immortal by nature and that they died in anticipation or because of Adam’s guilt.

2. Our progenitors’ immunity from death (Adam and Eve) did not come from the order of nature.
It was a gift from God and it had its justification in that man could eat from the tree of life.
The tree of life represented God who was communicating to our progenitors his supernatural life.
This is why the Church teaches that immunity from pain and from death was a preternatural gift, i.e. outside the realm of nature.

By his nature man is in fact mortal.

3. The Catechism of the Catholic Church presents this doctrine in three points.
In the first it says: “The first man was not only created good, but was also established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the glory of the new creation in Christ” (CCC 374).
There was therefore an elevation that had extraordinary effects not only on the soul but also on the body of man.

4. Here is the second point which takes up what has been said just now in magisterial terms: “The Church interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original  “state of holiness and justice’’ (DS 1511). This grace of original holiness was “to share in…divine life” (Conc. Ecum. Vat. II, Lumen gentium, 2)” (CCC 375).

5. The third statement shows the consequences of this participation in divine life: “By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man’s life were confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy man would not have to suffer (cf Gn 3,16) or die (cf Gn 2,17; Gn 3,19).
The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman (cf Gn 2,25), and finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation comprised the state called original justice” (CCC 376).

6. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes original sin’s effects as follows: “The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions; their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination(Gn 3,16).
Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man (Gn 3,17; Gn 3,19).
Because of man, creation is now subject ‘’to its bondage to decay” (Rm 8,20).
Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience (Gn 2,17) will come true: man will return to the ground, for out of it he was taken(Gn 3,19). Death makes its entrance into human history (Rm 5,12)” (CCC 400).

7. The tree of life is also mentioned in the Apocalypse: “down the middle of its street, on either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations” (Ap 22,2).
Jesus, who called Himself ‘’the bread of life’’ (Gn 6,48) is the tree of life whose fruits are available to eat to those who have been baptized and in this way preserve the immortal life of grace.
In Heaven this nourishment will have glory and immortality as its effects even for the resurrected bodies.

I bless you, I wish you all good things and I remember you in my prayers.

Fr Angelo