POPE FRANCIS ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
When Pope Francis
addressed the Joint Session of Congress on September 28, he addressed many
issues in a way that clearly showed that the way of the Gospel is not aligned
with either political category of "right" or "left",
conservative or liberal. At times the democrats applauded his words, at other
times the republicans did. Some Catholics were upset that he did not emphasis
issues important to them. The pope chose not to berate the men and women of
Congress with repeating Church Teaching that they are all aware of. Everyone is
aware of what the Church teaches concerning abortion and same-sex marriage. The
pope made reference to these issues but did not harangue the men and women present and those listening who
were not present.
An issue that
Francis did emphasis was the death penalty. He did this because not everyone is
clear on where the Church stands on capital punishment. This is because Church
Teaching on capital punishment has evolved. When the new CATECHISM OF THE
CATHOLID CHURCH was first published in 1994 the paragraph on the use of the
death penalty illustrated the traditional teaching: "Preserving the common
good of society requires rendering the aggressor unable to inflict harm. For
this reason the traditional teaching of the Church has acknowledged as
well-founded the right and duty of legitimate public authority to punish
malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity,
the death penalty." (CCC 2266)
However, the
following year St. John Paul II issued his encyclical letter Evangelium Veta (The Gospel of Life). In
this encyclical John Paul states:
" In the same perspective there is evidence
of a growing public opposition to the death penalty, even when such a penalty
is seen as a kind of "legitimate defence" on the part of society.
Modern society in fact has the means of effectively suppressing crime by
rendering criminals harmless without definitively denying them the chance to
reform.
It is clear that, for these purposes to be
achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated
and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender
except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be
possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady
improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare,
if not practically non-existent." (#56)
Because of this evolution of
the teaching on capital punishment, in the revised CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLID CHURCH (1997) the paragraphs on the death penalty
are altered to include St. John Paul II's emphasis:
"If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
"Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent.'[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.]" (CCC 2266 & 2267)
Pope Francis has moved this evolution further by making it
clear the he promotes the global elimination of the death penalty.
This
conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at
different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced
that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is
endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the
rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here
in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty.
Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are
convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension
of hope and the goal of rehabilitation. Pope
Francis in his address to the Joint Session of Congress September 28, 2015)
Pope Francis has
clearly stated that the use of capital punishment by the United States, or any
other country, is no longer consistent with the teachings of the Catholic
Church.
