Voting for pro death penalty president?

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There have been more than 50,000,000 abortions in America since 1973, and we currently have perhaps the most pro-life President in American history.
"President Donald Trump is governing as the most pro-life president in our nation’s history and Susan B. Anthony List is honored to receive him at our annual Campaign for Life Gala,” SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in the press release.
 
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Compare 50 million abortions to the tiny number of people sentenced to death.

Furthermore, the process of how death penalty cases are appealed turns many such death penalty cases into de facto life sentences as it is, given how long the appellate process takes.
 
porthos11 said:
Pope Francis’ modification, as was the modification to the Catechism, remains a prudential matter, not a moral one.
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Prudence is a moral virtue. That means that prudential judgement consists of weighing the guidance of moral teachers and moral principles in coming to a position.
porthos11 said:
Because if it was a moral one, then the Church has changed a moral teaching, which is impossible. Despite the change, Cardinal Ratzinger’s opinion in 2004 remains valid.
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The Church’s teaching has been that the death penalty is allowed if it serves the common good but is forbidden if it does more harm than good. That comes down to deep moral contemplation and guidance from the moral teachers of our world.
 
If they can do well in the US I can see other western secular countries give it a good hard look. It’s like the ‘prayers answered’ party.
 
Catholic4 said:
Considering the update to the catechism about the death penalty… can Catholics in good conscience vote for a pro death penalty president?
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If they aren’t for the death denalty then they’ll likely be for abortion, but then what?
 
Catholic4 said:
Considering the update to the catechism about the death penalty… can Catholics in good conscience vote for a pro death penalty president?
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Re: execution, from the CCC

2267 Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”

AND

Here’s the number of executions each yr in the U.S. Executions by State and Year | Death Penalty Information Center

Here’s the number of abortions executed each yr in the U.S. https://nrlc.org/uploads/factsheets/FS01AbortionintheUS.pdf

Re: the vote on life by political party

Democrat party on abortion Democratic Party on the Issues
Republican party on abortion Republican Party on the Issues

Democrats are even MORE radical on abortion in 2020

The choice should be obvious for who to vote for and who to vote against Re: Life
 
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Thank you for a very brief but needed comment in this conversation. There are many crucial factors that ought to be considered in this question, especially (now) the matter of justice. Yes, with mercy - but justice - for the victims (plural) of every murdered person - indeed, also for the justice due to the murderer.
 
I agree with the Catechism in that we really cannot consider ourselves to be Pro-Life if we sanction the death penalty in countries whereas there’s jails and prisons. Plus the death penalty is based at least partially on a false premise, namely that a person who commits murder cannot repent and change their lives.
 
We could, vote for candidates that are more in line with our beliefs. Voting for a third party helps that party become more prominent. It also forces the two main parties to not take Catholic voters for granted. They should earn our votes.
 
And there was a particularly sad execution recently. The man executed had repented and dedicated his life to God.

“I’m just grateful to be a servant of God, and I’m looking forward to being in his presence, and I thank you.”

The crime of murder was 35 years ago.
 
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Catholic4 said:
Considering the update to the catechism about the death penalty… can Catholics in good conscience vote for a pro death penalty president?
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Since 1963, three people have been executed by the federal government of the United States
Executed personDateCrime
1Timothy McVeighJune 11, 2001Murder of eight federal law enforcement officers through the 1995 bombing of the [Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building]
2Juan Raul GarzaJune 19, 2001Murder of Thomas Albert Rumbo, ordering the murders of Gilberto Matos, Erasmo De La Fuente, Antonio Nieto, Bernabe Sosa, Diana Flores Villareal, Oscar Cantu, and Fernando Escobar Garcia in conjunction with a drug-smuggling ring
3Louis Jones, Jr.March 18, 2003Rape and murder of Pvt. Tracie McBride,
 
blackforest said:
The American South has simultaneously the highest murder rate and the highest execution rate. I wouldn’t look to the death penalty as a deterrent.
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Nor would I in the Southern USA.

Having Southern roots, and a familiarity with “things Southern” at an intimate level, I should here point out that the proclivity for vigilante justice is a lot higher in the South. By this I mean, if a family member is murdered, and the killer known to the men of the family suffering the loss, the murderer is likely to be killed by a family member taking personal revenge than by state execution.

I am NOT in any way saying that is right, ok, or something I support. What I’m saying is that it is how things go sometimes in the “South.”

My own grandmother, God rest her soul, often told me, “people who do bad things aren’t ever seen again around here (in these mountains.)” And that was Appalachia, not the actual “south.”
 
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Catholic4 said:
Considering the update to the catechism about the death penalty… can Catholics in good conscience vote for a pro death penalty president?
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Not in terms of moral consent or vocally supporting that specific issue, but the scale of the issue is miniscule compared to abortion and there’s not necessarily a clean choice on the ballot.

The Solidarity Party is pro-life in all respects and is opposed to the dehumanization of persons, including prisoners. The dehumanization of people in the prison system actually contributes towards crime, so it creates a vicious self-perpetuating cycle. When prisoners are treated compassionately and with dignity, crime decreases.

https://solidarity-party.org/

Peace.
 
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F_Marturana said:
In my parish we pray for the sanctity of life “From conception to natural death”.

I’m not sure why we can’t be prolife and anti death penalty simultaneously.
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I often hear that wording in my Parish. And I agree with that. To me being truly, completely, pro-life means respecting the life and dignity of EVERY person from conception until natural death.
 
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