That tracks. They only made suicide a sin in 1562. They realized that people would go in to ask for forgiveness, and then kill themselves while they were sinless. Can't increase the numbers when they're dying.
I'd be careful about the implication that Moses approves of the Catholic Church, but I agree. Considering the time and the capability of people, I'd consider it anti-progressive. Regressive?
The Catholic church tried to *do* what Moses did, but in the direction of trying to control instead of trying to promote the prosperity of the living. It really wasn't inspired at all (Cain's sin?).
By the time it established itself, the "Official Church" was already outdated, because it couldn't possibly keep up with the dynamic word-of-mouth, which is closer to the definition of the "word of god" than the Bible, itself, is. That's why they sought dominance by killing their competition (Oh, Cain again). Everyday people were realizing that they were "divine", and they couldn't have that.
It is my belief that this "word of god" exceeded the Roman Church, so they started "persecuting" real enthusiasts (followers) of Christ in favor of their fake NPC "Christians" (still real, scared, people).
The Roman Catholic Church murdered real people just so that we can have our hypocritical, ignorant, Christians of today. An institutionalized church, trying to "murder God", created an intellectual plague that would last for millenia. It's an epic. It's also why I'm a big FF fan.
Sorry for turning this into "Bible Study".