The pope wants a worldwide ban on the death penalty and it is not hard to think of countries where the range of offences that attract it is frighteningly large. The frequency of its application is just as worrying but to state that it can never be justified is wrong. I have never defended the use or availability of capital punishment on the grounds of retribution and would echo his holiness's own phraseology in saying that no matter how serious the crime, it is wrong if its purpose is merely an eye for an eye and a tooth for a...