Catholic Teaching on the Death Penalty

The 2010 execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner by firing squad has raised national awareness and questions about the need for the death penalty. Catholic teaching holds that capital punishment is only acceptable in situations where there is no other way to protect society.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Capital Punishment
• Death penalty
• catholic
• utah
• firing squad
• Ronnie Lee Gardner

[qtgymgrl]

Bishop John who?

[kjbhlogkh]

@Seldomfather2 I cannot wait to hear that Richard Ramirez has been executed for all of the crimes he committed in the name of Satan! Now the is absolutely no hope for him, because he is so proud of himself for committing violent murders in the name of Satan!

[all028]

What about George Bush? Isn't he guilty of mass murder for invading Iraq? How come he doesn't get the death penalty???

[Seldomfather2]

I reject the death penalty no matter what society it is or who the criminal may be. I am a catholic but I don't care what the priests may say. I just reject it.

[JDZwiers19]

@Thomistica First of all Augustine accepted that the Papacy had the authority to translate scripture which is clear by the councils of Hippo and Carthage. The pope was made defender of the faith (Luke 22-31). Augustine believed this. Every schism is finalized by the rejection of papal primacy. According to the Gospels that is the rejection of the true faith.

[AggieU]

@OlenkaWagner Agree. You should just continue to rape them.

[Thomistica]

@JDZwiers19 Would Augustine have obeyed the Bishop of Rome if he believed that the Bishop of Rome had clearly rejected the Gospel (or an essential component of it) and anathematized all who held to it (see the Council of Trent)? Possible, but I doubt he would have.

As a classical Protestant, I view the Reformation as a tragic event, but a necessary one given the circumstances. Luther and Calvin ultimately left Rome out of emergency, and obedience to God over men who had perverted the faith.

[JDZwiers19]

@ThomisticaAugustine may have held views (maybe) that were embraced during the reformation but he also submitted to the teaching authority of the Church and would have accepted the Church’s present teaching had it been clearly defined in his life. Also Luther and Calvin had different opinions on said doctrines. Scripture does not support either of their views. Augustine was a "romanist" through and through.

[OlenkaWagner]

@Paulina86 - I think they explained the issue quite well - in modern societies there are high security jails where even the most dangerous criminals could be kept without compromising the security of society. Notice that in US death sentences are often executed after several (even 20 years) from the time they were arrested. So if they could be kept for 20 years and did not make problems - why execute these people now?

[Paulina86]

I don't understand! "Catholic teaching holds that capital punishment is only acceptable in situations where there is no other way to protect society." So when we have such situations?