Posted on 03/20/2015 1:12:26 PM PDT by ebb tide
Capital punishment is cruel, inhuman and an offense to the dignity of human life. In today's world, the death penalty is "inadmissible, however serious the crime" that has been committed. That was Pope Francis’ unequivocal message to members of the International Commission against the death penalty who met with him on Friday morning in the Vatican.
Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s report:
In a lengthy letter written in Spanish and addressed to the president of the International Commission against the death penalty, Pope Francis thanks those who work tirelessly for a universal moratorium, with the goal of abolishing the use of capital punishment in countries right across the globe.
Pope Francis makes clear that justice can never be done by killing another human being and he stresses there can be no humane way of carrying out a death sentence. For Christians, he says, all life is sacred because every one of us is created by God, who does not want to punish one murder with another, but rather wishes to see the murderer repent. Even murderers, he went on, do not lose their human dignity and God himself is the guarantor.
Capital punishment, Pope Francis says, is the opposite of divine mercy, which should be the model for our man-made legal systems. Death sentences, he insists, imply cruel and degrading treatment, as well as the torturous anguish of a lengthy waiting period before the execution, which often leads to sickness or insanity.
The Pope also condemns the use of the death penalty by “totalitarian regimes” or “fanatical groups” who seek to exterminate “political prisoners”, “minorities”, or anyone seen as a threat to political power and ambitions.
But he makes quite clear that the use of capital punishment signifies “a failure” on the part of any State. However serious the crime, he says, an execution “does not bring justice to the victims, but rather encourages revenge” and denies any hope of repentence or reparation for the crime that has been committed.
Here we go again with "in today's world". Are we that much more civilized now? Take legalized abortion for example.
What about judging people?
Hmm, a Pope who hasn’t read the Bible. Somehow I think that is not a first.
This is heresy.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A13&version=KJV
Exodus 20:13 King James Version (KJV)
13 Thou shalt not kill.
Wrong!
See Leviticus 24:17
Read the Bible.
Popie is right. To hell with the “death penalty”. Turn the perp over to the family members of the “loved one” and let them handle it. That would cut down on that “cruel and unusual” bull****.
Many a murderer has repented solely due to the knowledge of his impending execution while understanding that God's justice is being served.
I am not aware of any case in which an executed murderer committed another crime.
When I hear people talking against the death penalty, what I hear them saying is that they don’t think that anything one person does to another, even murder, is very serious.
As far as I am concerned, when a human being murders another human being (for fun, revenge, to get them out of the way, whatever), they give up their right to be considered human. At that point, imposing the death penalty is much like euthanizing a dangerous dog.
Jesus didn’t speak out against the death penalty. In fact, he accepted it on himself despite having committed no crime.
What say you about “millstone around the neck”?
the proper translation is thou shalt no murder
Maybe as penalty for convicted murderers, they could be sentenced to life TOGETHER with one another, unsupervised and forever!! :)
They’d off each other...!!
Pope Francis has just cheapened the lives of Catholics worldwide with such an idiotic statement.
Or “better yet that he had never been born”?
re: “However serious the crime, he says, an execution “does not bring justice to the victims, but rather encourages revenge” and denies any hope of repentence or reparation for the crime that has been committed.”
This statement makes no logical sense. The whole point of the death penalty in God’s Law is restitution. If you steal, you not only return what you stole, but four times the value to your victims.
With premeditated murder, there is no material restitution possible to the victim, except that the murderer has their life taken in restitution for the life of the murdered victim.
As to “repentance”, it is still possible for someone who committed murder to receive forgiveness from God - even possibly from the family of the victim. But, the dead victim cannot forgive the crime that was committed against them - they are dead! So, even though a murderer can be forgiven, the crime in this physical world, must still be carried out for justice sake.
This poor man is a lost soul... Matt 10:28
Exodus 20:13 King James Version (KJV)
13 Thou shalt not kill.
- - - - -
Bad Translation of “shall not murder”
Or do you believe that God often instructed His people to break His own commandments with the multitude of sins that required death as an earthly punishment?
Where does the pope pull this nonsense from the Bible? I am not anti-Catholic, but I don’t have any idea whom this man is speaking for.
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