Posted on 06/21/2016 12:32:44 PM PDT by Phillyred
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis is amplifying his opposition to capital punishment, saying it's an offense to life, contradicts God's plan and serves no purpose for punishment. In a video message to an anti-death penalty congress in Norway, Francis declared: "The commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' has absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty."
Francis has gone beyond his predecessors and traditional Catholic teaching in saying there is simply no justification for the death penalty today. He said Tuesday that rather than rendering justice, it fosters vengeance. Church teaching allows for recourse to capital punishment when it is the only way to defend lives "effectively" against an aggressor.
Francis said: "It must not be forgotten that the inviolable and God-given right to life also belongs to the criminal."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
There’s an old story about a young preacher who was visiting a country church where he though he could really wow them; however, after services one of the elders, a through and through country boy of advanced years, pulled him aside and asked him if he was “sent, or did you just went?”
Now this pope is no whipper-snapper, not by any means, but he’s seeming like he needs to be questioned by the same elder on a number of things.
So is "go **** yourself."
To be accurate, it is thou shall not murder, not thou shall not kill. It is permissible to kill in self-defense, in defense of another, as a solder in wartime or a state sponsored execution.
Sorry, but this guy is, quite simply, a Nut Job.
He probably has fifty years of experience with the church which in reality is one years of experience repeated fifty times.
The correct interpretation is “Thou shalt not MURDER”.
The pope fails theology once again.
"Even when there is question of a person condemned to death, the state does not take away the 'right' of the individual to life. It is then reserved to the public authority to deprive the condemned person of the 'benefit' of life in expiation for his guilt, after he himself, by his crime, has already deprived himself of his right to life.
(Acta Apostolicae Sedis XLIV (1952), p. 787)
I am also RC. I have to think we have two popes right now for a reason. God kept Benedict around as a comfort to the faithful in this trying time. Benedict is still my Pope.
That is the correct translation - murder, not kill. Too bad the Pope is so unfamiliar with Scripture.
Perhaps the Pope should read the Bible, if this is what he said. What the Bible says is different. The prohibition on murder is absolute, but God in many situations permits or even requires killing other people.
This is from JPII's Catechism, so Francis isn't so far off from JPII "Catholicism". And Francis canonized him.
Thanks for the Ping. I don’t typically spend too much time in the News forum.
Well done! You should nail this thesis on the door of the Vatican.
I was thinking more in terms of just wars where killing is necessary. I don’t recall JPII changing much in that regard.
But his points in capital punishment are of course well taken.
Even so, I think Francis is definitely an outlier with his interpretation (misinterpretation) of “thou shalt not kill.”
Thank you. I sent an abridged version to the Philly paper.
Thou shalt not MURDER is the absolute.
You’re correct.
Only 14 posts, not bad.
5.56mm
yay!
It is. The word “kill” in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17 is translated from Hebrew “ratsach”, which specifically means “murder”. Some Bible translations do translate it correctly.
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