YOUCAT Lesson 381
YOUCAT the catechism
for Catholic youth
381 Why is the Church
opposed to capital punishment?
The Church is committed to opposing the death penalty
because it is “both cruel and unnecessary” (Pope John Paul II, St. Louis,
January 27, 1999). [2266-2267]
Mehmet Ali Agca who shot John Paul II 1981 laid flowers
Christmas 2014 the saint's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica. ….. 381
Every legitimate State has in principle the right to punish
crime appropriately. In “Evangelium vitae (1995)”, the Pope does
not say that the use of the death penalty is in every respect an unacceptable
and illegitimate punishment. To take the
life of a criminal is an extreme measure to which the State should resort only
“in cases of absolute necessity”. This
necessity arises when the only way to protect human society is by killing the
convicted criminal. But such cases, says
Pope John Paul II, “are very rare, if not practically non-existent”.
[2266-2267]
Legitimate defense
2266 The efforts of the
state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's rights and to the
basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the
common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment
proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment has the primary aim of
redressing the disorder introduced by the offense. When it is willingly
accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment
then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people's safety, has
a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction
of the guilty party. (Compare Luke 23:40-43.)67 –Catechism
of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
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.
--CCC
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