Opinion on the death penalty?

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At least in the United States, the condemned are entitled to spiritual counsel of their choice in the hours leading up to their execution. The life of the condemned is forfeit, not his soul or his right to religious freedom, so if he asks for a priest to hear his Confession, the State will oblige.
 
Jessica01 said:
So I guess that God can use even death row sometimes.
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In section 2266 of the catechism they discuss the medicinal nature of punishment:

Moreover, punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender.(67)

End note (67) cites Lk 23: 40-43, which references the salvation of the good thief crucified with Christ. That is, the catechism uses an execution as an example of a punishment that leads to the “correction of the offender”.
 
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And who decides what a suitable alternative is? The state, not the Church. There ya go!
 
anon10271182 said:
And who decides what a suitable alternative is? The state, not the Church. There ya go!
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To follow up on your point, here is what the church says in regard to the decision to go to war, and surely the principle is the same with regard to capital punishment.

2309 The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

As you said, the decision lies with the State, and this can only be because the decision involves a practical judgment, not a moral choice. The church certainly doesn’t grant the State the right to make this choice with regard to abortion.
 
Nelka said:
None of us have the right to take a life.
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One distinction is that it is the criminal himself that deprives himself from the right to life

Pope Pius XII

“In the case of the death penalty the State does not dispose of the individual’s right to life. Rather public authority limits itself to depriving the offender of the good of life in expiation for his guilt, after he, through his crime, deprived himself of his own right to life.”
 
Monte,

If you look at my post, I was addressing that very issue. The words that you quoted were not mine, but Nelka’s
 
[I know … but I couldn’t find Nelka’s post. So I copied Nelka’s post from your response to her.]

[Apologies for the confusion.]
 
Giovanni Battista Bugatti (1779–1869) was the official executioner for the Papal States from 1796 to 1865. He was the longest-serving executioner in the States and was nicknamed Mastro Titta, a Roman corruption of maestro di giustizia, or master of justice. He carried out a total of 516 executions. [1] At the age of 85, he was retired by Pope Pius IX with a monthly pension of 30 scudi." I guess that means the Popes from 1796 to 1865 were fine with the death penalty.

““It must be remembered that power was granted by God, and to avenge crime the sword was permitted; he who carries out this vengeance is God’s minister. What motive have we for condemning a practice that all hold to be permitted by God?” - Pope Innocent I

“The same divine authority that forbids the killing of a human being establishes certain exceptions, as when God authorizes killing by a general law or when He gives an explicit commission to an individual for a limited time. The agent who executes the killing does not commit homicide; he is an instrument as is the sword with which he cuts. Therefore, it is in no way contrary to the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ to wage war at God’s bidding, or for the representatives of public authority to put criminals to death, according to the law, that is, the will of the most just reason.” - Saint Augustine

“If a man is a danger to the community, threatening it with disintegration by some wrongdoing of his, then his execution for the healing and preservation of the common good is to be commended. Only the public authority, not private persons, may licitly execute malefactors by public judgment. Men shall be sentenced to death for crimes of irreparable harm or which are particularly perverted.” - Saint Thomas Aquinas

“Even when there is question of the execution of a condemned man, the State does not dispose of the individual’s right to life … by his crime, he has already dispossessed himself of his right to life.” - Pope Pius XII

“The secular power can without mortal sin carry out a sentence of death, provided it proceeds in imposing the penalty not from hatred but with judgment, not carelessly but with due solicitude.” -Pope Innocent III

"Far from being guilty of breaking this commandment [Thou shall not kill], such an execution of justice is precisely an act of obedience to it. For the purpose of the law is to protect and foster human life. This purpose is fulfilled when the legitimate authority of the State is exercised by taking the guilty lives of those who have taken innocent lives.” - Catechism of the Council of Trent
 
“The fact that the evil ones, as long as they live, can be corrected from their errors does not prohibit that they may be justly executed, for the danger which threatens from their way of life is greater and more certain than the good which may be expected from their improvement.They also have at that critical point of death the opportunity to be converted to God through repentance. And if they are so obstinate that even at the point of death their heart does not draw back from malice, it is possible to make a quite probable judgment that they would never come away from evil.” - Saint Thomas Aquinas
 
I used to be against the death penalty (around when this tread begin)
But recently I’ve been reading stories about serial killers/murderers out of interest and fascination (I know, not a good idea) I’ve read about absolutely disgusting crimes by humans that I’ve never could have imagined even if I tried. Some killers have a very strange heart.

I still feel pro-life is the more logically consistent solution, who are we to judge who should live or die in a secular state? Death penalty have always been either sanctioned directly by God (in the Old Testament) or by the Church when it was in power, not by Godless secularists of today. But I do support the death penalty now, I can’t bring myself to still believe that some people have a right to life after reading about some of their hideous crimes.
 
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Nelka - I believe you are spot on there; however in defending life, it may be necessary/unavoidable to take life/lives of aggressors and/or those euphemistically called ‘collateral damage’. A classic case, of perhaps someone who was too ‘merciful’ was a British sniper in WWI, who had a guy in his gun sight who became known later as Adolf Hitler. He noticed that his ‘target’ was slightly wounded, so held back on his trigger finger - the rest is, as the saying goes, history.
 
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