Pope revises catechism to say death penalty is 'inadmissible'

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The current pope also thinks air conditioners are immoral. That is his opinion. Loving and owning air conditioning does not make one a bad Catholic simply because Francis has a problem with them.
 
Saxum said:
This is not a development. This is a contradiction. The revision is heresy. The only authority cited to back up the new teaching was a comment made by Francis. The teaching of the Church cannot change. Francis is wrong.
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And according to you Pope Benedict must have been wrong .

Pope Benedict XVI encouraged countries around the world to end the death penalty as a legal sanction at his Nov. 30 2011 general audience.
 
You are implying that the death penalty robs a person of their human dignity. So this begs the question, what exactly do people think human dignity is? And how exactly would capital punishment take that dignity away?

Nowhere in the New Testament is the death penalty ever opposed. In fact, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that if he has broken any law that makes him worthy of death, then he will not refuse his due death. Are we to assume that God’s own judgment, and his expectations of human governments to execute wrath upon evil doers, have all along been violating the dignity of humans, whatever that may be?

People seem to be confusing the simple concept of human dignity with just punishment. For instance, the Pope writes in his letter that the execution of a person “entails cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.” So does this mean that a convicted person in prison, who is there for multiple murders, and goes on to kill a prison guard (a situation which has happened more than once), and is put in isolation in a small 6ftx6ft room, with 1 hour of daylight, and only food is permitted in his cell through a small hole, is not facing cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment? Is this the better treatment the Pope refers too? And if that isolated punishment of that criminal is also found to be cruel and inhumane, what is next? Should he be released to the general population of the prison? And if that is yet degrading treatment, to have a person locked up for life, in a cell, with no contact with the outside world, is that not degrading? When do we stop classifying something as cruel and degrading? For this reason God put up clear standards to prevent such folly and slippery slopes that avoid justice and rewards the evil.
 
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So do you find it admissible to stone a person to death for committing adultery? God did command it in the old testament but did Christ not do the very opposite in that story in the Gospel by asking who will throw the first stone? Was God contradicting Himself?
Please lets not make as if Pope Francis just came out of the blue and took upon himself to to be playing God or changing Divine Law or whatever thing some of us are trying to make him look like.
I bet if most of us now were living at the time of Jesus we would have been the first to cry out loud `` we want Barnabas free instead…crucify Jesus the Nazarene…’’ just because we do not want to come out of our comfort zones, our routines and let ourselves be led by the Holy Spirit, reminding us we should be merciful as God is merciful to us. Please lets pray for the spirit of discernment and pray not to harden our hearts to God’s will.
 
“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.” said Pope John Paul II in a 1999 sermon.
 
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Have you considered that the Pope in this letter is not making any infallible or dogmatic statement, and may in fact be in error?
 
Francis also said the Pauline liturgical reforms are “irreversible.” Hardly an infallible remark.
 
Don’t they have a system in Scandinavia where it is basically more like a supervised dormitory system.
 
I don’t see the controversy. This is pro life in all its reality
 
The Pope REVISED THE CATECHISM. O.k. The next edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will include the changes. For sure. I will buy the next edition and see Pope’s Francis’s changes. Guaranteed.

You can promise, with 100% certainty, that the Pope sat down with the staff who is in charge of publishing the Catechism and had this discussion.

If you’re wrong, you owe me a dozen donuts. Agreed?

I HAVE BEEN CORRECTED. THE POPE DID CHANGE THE CATECHISM. My profound apologies to everyone. I am truly contrite.
 
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mrsdizzyd said:
He did not do this. There are many things that violate human dignity without being intrinsically evil.
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Exactly. The teaching begins with the word “Today.” This type of development is not new. The Catholic Church condemns slavery, while St. Paul did not. He even sent one slave back to his master. This should not confuse Catholics. Our authority does not come from a static book given once in history, nor from any “Golden Era” when Catholicism was “traditional”, but has always been evolving with new understanding. However, the history of this evolution, the fact there is such a history, means that the death penalty is not intrinsically evil.
 
I think a bigger problem is the prison system. Bursting at the seams. Who would want to work there? Its been in the too hard basket for too long.
 
leocor said:
You are implying that the death penalty robs a person of their human dignity. So this begs the question, what exactly do people think human dignity is? And how exactly would capital punishment take that dignity away?
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Actually, this is a very good point.

In what sense does the death penalty rob a person of their human dignity that, say, life in prison or in solitary confinement wouldn’t, likewise, rob them of their dignity?

What exactly is human dignity and how is it preserved and when is it eligible to be reduced or taken away, if ever? Which other actions of civil authority rob people of their dignity? Doesn’t the mere act of a police officer shooting a perpetrator or arresting them also rob them of their dignity?

Should rapists, murderers and child molestors simply be treated as any law abiding citizen because doing otherwise robs them of their human dignity? Where is the red line as far as human dignity is concerned? Are non-criminals, then, being treated with more than their due of human dignity?

Somewhat puzzling. Clarity of thought here would be nice.
 
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Quite frankly, I’m tired of this fake morality that sacrifices the innocent for the benefit of the guilty.
Prison doesn’t stop murderers from murdering, it just changes the face of victims to someone less savory. There are lots of murders & victimizations in prisons.
Then there is the matter of justice. Justice is a legitimate desire of the victimized. Society demands justice.
Lastly, there is the issue of whether or not a murderer will really spend their entire life in jail. In places like Israel, the lack of death sentences has led to murdering goblins being used as political bargaining chips, let loose to a homicidal Palestinian state that celebrates the murder of innocents.
 
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