Posted on 10/10/2024 3:26:28 PM PDT by ebb tide
Pope Francis has once again called for an end to the death penalty, describing the practice as “always inadmissible” and appealing for its “abolition in all countries of the world.”
In an October 10 post on his official X (formerly Twitter) account to commemorate “European and World Day against the Death Penalty,” the Pope wrote that the “death penalty is always inadmissible, because it attacks the inviolability and dignity of the person. I appeal for its abolition in all countries of the world. We must not forget that a person can repent and change, even up until the very last moment of their life.”
In contrast with the Pope’s description of the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an attack on the “dignity of the person,” the Catholic Church has always taught – through the Magisterium, popes, saints, theologians, and scholars – that the state reserves the right, in natural law and according to Sacred Scripture (Gen 9:6), to execute criminals.
In 1955 Pope Pius XII defended the authority of the state to punish crimes, including with the death penalty. He argued that capital punishment is morally defensible in every age and culture since “the coercive power of legitimate human authority” is based on “the sources of revelation and traditional doctrine.”
Indeed, St. Thomas Aquinas, in his classic defense of capital punishment in the Summa Theologiæ, argued that “if a man be dangerous and infectious to the community, on account of some sin, it is praiseworthy and advantageous that he be killed in order to safeguard the common good.”
Catholic authors Edward Feser and Joseph Bessette outline the historic Catholic teaching regarding the death penalty in their joint work, By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment.
The Pope’s repudiation of capital punishment has been a recurring theme of his 11-year pontificate. From at least 2016, the Pope has publicly stated his opposition to the death penalty on the grounds that it contradicts the decalogue, in that the “Commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ has absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty.”
The following year, Francis called the death penalty “per se contrary to the Gospel” since it “entails the willful suppression of a human life that never ceases to be sacred in the eyes of its Creator and of which – ultimately – only God is the true judge and guarantor.”
Later, in 2018, the Pope took to formalizing his statement against state-sanctioned killing of the guilty by having the Catechism of the Catholic Church entry on the death penalty altered (citing his own 2017 remarks) to remove language which, at minimum, affirmed that the Church “does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.”
The Pope then declared that capital punishment is “an attack on the … dignity of the person”; as a result, entry n. 2267 now reads:
Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.
Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.
Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.
Thereafter the Pope has taken numerous opportunities to make calls for the “abolition” of the death penalty in today’s world, in contradiction with the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church, even acknowledging that the Church has historically upheld the liceity of the death penalty.
In 2022 the Pontiff requested Catholics to “pray that the death penalty, which attacks the dignity of the human person, may be legally abolished in every country,” adding his opinion that the practice is “not necessary” since it “offers no justice to victims, but rather encourages revenge.” And just last year Francis repeated his claim that the death penalty is “always inadmissible since it attacks the inviolability and the dignity of the person” in comments to the diplomatic corps of ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.
And he can begin by calling on his good buddies at the UN and George Soros.
Ping
Shut up Frankie, you jerk. GET A JOB!
Well, bless his heart.
Perhaps he can call us when he convinces the purveyors of the religion of hate to eliminate the death penalty. And with that class of...er...folks, let’s see what Mr Pope can do about that religion’s opinion of the Jews.
We’ll wait. For a long, LONG time.
Exactly, God is very clear on His position on capital punishment!
They’re pulling out all the stops, it seems.
Enemies foreign or domestic agree with the Antichrist
Sorry,Frankie....an eye for an eye.
We need more death penalties carried out swiftly in order to eliminate criminals who could escape or be let go to find new victims.
From uCatholic website:
At the young age of 17, Giovanni Battista Bugatti became the Official Executioner of the Papal States.
Bugatti was described as short and stout, always well dressed. Although married, he had no children. When he wasn’t carrying out his part-time duties, he and his wife were frequenters of the Santa Maria in Traspontina church and sold painted umbrellas and other souvenirs to tourists.
A respectable man, he called his executions justices and those condemned as patients.
As a resident of the Trastevere district of Rome, he was forbidden to leave his neighborhood unless on official business for fear of revenge sought by relatives of the executed.
When he did cross the bridge to leave however, the residents of Rome knew an execution was due to take place and word quickly spread as crowds gathered to witness the popular event.
From March 22nd, 1796 when he became Papal Executioner to 1810, the method of execution was beheading by axe, hanging, or even mallet. When the French instituted the guillotine, it was first used in the Papal States in 1816 until his last execution when he was retired by Pope Pius IX at the ripe age of 85.
“Why doesn’t Francis first call for an abolition of abortion in all countries of the world?”
Because he does not think abortion is as evil as the death penalty for criminals.
The best authorities on the Bible say that the commandment says, in Aramaic - thou shall not committ murder, not thou shall not kill. If those closest to the time of Moses had capital punishment for certain crimes, they obviuosly understood the sixth commandment better than does Francis.
And where are Frankie’s Muslim pals on this? Still following the Koran, no doubt, with its many death penalties and general call to kill Jews and infidels.
Leviticus 24:17 says otherwise.
That was his first obvious heresy. The Old Testament law prescribes death as the penalty for a variety of offenses including sodomy, adultery, and incest. God obviously thought it "admissible". Far be it from me to contradict Him ...
Well I see it like this. If some lunatic attempts to do harm to my family or me, or even a good friend, he better be prepared to die capital punishment or no capital punishment. And it seems t me that the pope ought to clean up his own pedophile house before telling the rest of us what to do. I always wondered what Jesus would think if he were here on earth today? I don’t think he would approve of the lavish accommodations and lifestyle the Vatican provides.
If he’s righteous he should be calling for both simultaneously. The Catholic religion is against all unnatural death.
This obvious evil is NOT the Pope. Pope Benedict did not offer a valid resignation, Pope is not a “shared” position, and this evil was not validly elected. He was placed, much like so many of the world “leaders” now. Evil is currently squatting in the seat, defiling all that it touches. Stop calling this evil, “Pope”. The “But… but… but he’s the Pope” mentality allows the evil to continue in the face of common sense. The answer is NO.
That's not true.
I don’t get why God hasn’t recalled this pathetic excuse for a pope.
He’s done more to “fundamentally transform” the church than Obama managed to do with country.
Thing is when he finally takes his last breath, whoever replaces him will most likely much worse given the new radical cardinals he’s appointed!
Please explain... What type of unnatural death are they in favor of?
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