This is all that 2267 is saying.
Yes it is; just as it is warranted and ethical to continue it.
Penal advancement has nothing to do with whether the nature of the punishment is appropriate for the nature of the crime. That is a matter of retributive justice that cannot change from age to age or place to place although it may be unwise to use it depending on circumstances.
This is where the analogy fails, because it is not unethical to apply a just penalty according to the principle that the severity of the punishment must be commensurate with the severity of the crime.
Ender
Luckily we have the Popes themselves to give full Catholic context to the Catechism teachings.
“May the death penalty,
an unworthy punishment still used in some countries, be abolished throughout the world.” (St John Paul II Prayer at the Papal Mass at Regina Coeli Prison in Rome, July 9, 2000).
“A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty,
which is both cruel and unnecessary.” (St John Paul II Homily at the Papal Mass in the Trans World Dome, St. Louis, Missouri, January 27, 1999).
“I express my hope that your deliberations will encourage the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries
to eliminate the death penalty and to continue the substantive progress made in conforming penal law both to the human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order.” (Nov. 30, 2011 Pope Benedict)
“
All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment,” (Oct. 23, 2014 Pope Francis)
**“Nowadays the death penalty is inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed,” **“It 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 his merciful justice, and impedes the penalty from fulfilling any just objective. It does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters vengeance.”
“
For the rule of law, the death penalty represents a failure, as it obliges the state to kill in the name of justice,… Justice can never be wrought by killing a human being.”
“With the application of the death penalty, the convict is denied the possibility to repent or make amends for the harm caused; the possibility of confession, by which a man expresses his inner conversion, and contrition, the gateway to atonement and expiation, to reach an encounter with God’s merciful and healing justice,”
“
The death penalty is contrary to the sentiment of humanitas and to divine mercy, which must be the model for human justice,” (Pope Francis March 20, 2015)
The position of the Church is that the death penalty has no place in todays world and must be eliminated.
It is not intrinsically evil but is an evil in today’s circumstances.
But you are reading this but not getting it: “are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person”. That is a statement like “there are three Persons in God”. Its doctrinal. Its not the same as saying “examples of situations of self-defence are so rare that the death penalty should never be used”. The encyclical states the same in a different way. Its been a week and I am still not getting thru. Oh well