The notion of free will, which supports moral responsibility in various accounts of Catholic moral theology, is in a particular way situated at the intersection of theological and non-theological disciplines. Early studies on volition in cognitive neuroscience, inspired by Libet’s experiment (1983), suggested that free will is an illusion because our conscious intentions do not cause corresponding actions: these are initiated beforehand by unconscious brain processes. Although this seems to contradict basic anthropological and ethical assumptions, a closer look at this thesis renders it immature. At the same time, new developments in the multidisciplinary science of human volition draw attention to several aspects of freedom and agency that may be central to the way people take action and control their lives. The implications of this research may provoke some reformulations on the side of theological ethics. They may also point to certain schools and traditions, such as Christian virtue ethics, as theologically preferable.