“One man, Giovanni Battista Bugatti, carried out 516 executions as the “Pope’s Executioner” between 1796 and 1865. The executioner used one of three methods: guillotine (after 1816), smashing the head with a mallet and cutting the throat of the condemned, or drawing and quartering.” As always, this needs PERSPECTIVE to eliminate attempts at bias
This was during the period of the Papal States, when the Church controlled about 1/3 of what is present day Italy.
It amounts to about 7 executions a year - for things like rape, robbing and murdering pilgrims, etc....
Also look at what was common in other European nations and tradition at the time,
Sorry to offend anyone. Modern day Catholic Popes emphasize avoiding the penalty.
In January 1999, Pope John Paul II, without changing Catholic teaching, appealed for a consensus to end the death penalty on the ground that it was “both cruel and unnecessary”. He said that criminal offenders should be offered “an incentive and help to change his or her behavior and be rehabilitated”.
Pope Benedict XVI (2011)
Together with the Synod members, I draw the attention of society’s leaders to the need to make every effort to eliminate the death penalty and to reform the penal system in a way that ensures respect for the prisoners’ human dignity.
Pope Francis (2013)
He stated that capital punishment is an offence “against the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, which contradicts God’s plan for man and society” and “does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters vengeance”.