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Well...I think the article begs the question...of course the idea of capital punishment should be only in those cases where the defense of society is at stake. The question is one of scope! Many murders take place in the prisons by those who have murdered but are there for life because of the rejection of Capital punishment in their cases. Had they been executed, those who would have been otherwise murdered would have remained alive!
The problems arise in applying capital punishment in a way that those innocent but wrongly convicted might be spared. Hence imperfect though it is, we may well have to live with the cycles of appeals and re-appeals to make sure that each prisoner gets his or her fair shot in the system!
Bravo. Excellent article.
Pope Pius XI "Those who hold the reins of government should not forget that it is the duty of public authority ... to defend the lives of the innocent ... among whom we must mention in the first place infants hidden in the mother's womb. And if the public magistrates ... do not defend them, but by their laws and ordinances betray them to death at the hands of doctors and others, let them remember that God is the Judge and Avenger of innocent blood which cries from earth to heaven" (Casti Connubii No. 67).
Pope Pius XII "Every human being, even the infant in the mother's womb, has the right to life immediately from God, not from the parent or any human society or authority. Therefore there is no man, no human authority, no science, no medical, eugenic , social, economic or moral "indication" that can show or give valid juridical title for direct deliberate disposition concerning an innocent human life - which is to say, a disposition that aims at its destruction either as an end in itself or as the means of attaining another end that is perhaps in no way illicit in itself. Thus, for example, to save the life of the mother is a most noble end, but the direct killing of the child as a means to this end is not licit..." (Pope Pius XII, Allocution to Italian Midwives, October 29, 1951)
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This is a wonderful article. Could a Catholic explain why the Church holds "defense of life" is the only justification for captital punishment? It seems to me that simple justice requires capital punishment for some crimes--e.g. in the extreme, Usama Bin Laden.