updated 7/2025
Catechism & The Death Penalty Problems: Section 2267:
A Rational Deconstruction of Catholic Revisionism, 1995-2019
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom
RE: Catechism of the Catholic Church, PART THREE LIFE IN CHRIST, SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, CHAPTER TWO "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF", ARTICLE 5 THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
1995-1997
The relevant, first, major shift in Catholic teaching on the death penalty occurred in 1997, with a hastily drafted amendment, to the newest Catechism (CCC, 1992), within section 2267 - an amendment based upon Pope (now Saint) John Paul II's "Evangelium Vitae" (EV) (1995).
The amended CCC 2267 (2267) makes obvious rational, factual and secular errors, throughout, just as the problematic theological, biblical, traditional, Magesterium teachings, therein.
Pope John II (PJPII) made a prudential judgement, within EV, and such judgement had, very, obvious factual and rational errors and, then, those errors were amended into CCC 2267.
I do not believe that a prudential judgment has ever been entered into a Catechism, before, as such is contrary to the purpose of a catechism, ". . . a text which contains the fundamental Christian truths formulated in a way that facilitates their understanding." (USCCB).
The amended 2267 is a solid example of the opposite of that purpose and why a prudential judgement should never have been placed within a Catechism and, hopefully, such will not occur, again.
"Catholic teaching on capital punishment is in a state of dangerous ambiguity. The discussion of the death penalty in the Catechism of the Catholic Church is so difficult to interpret that conscientious members of the faithful scarcely know what their Church obliges them to believe." paraphrase - It has been recognized that the amended 2267 avoids the full Catholic teachings on the purposes of punishment, which are (1) defense of society against the criminal; (2) rehabilitation of the criminal, (3) retribution or the reparation of the disorder caused by the transgression . . . some authorities list (4) deterrence as a fourth purpose of punishment [Dulles, "Catholicism and Capital Punishment"]."The Purpose of Punishment (in the Catholic tradition)", by Canon Lawyer R. Michael Dunningan, J.D., J.C.L., CHRISTIFIDELIS, Vol.21,No.4, Sept 14, 2003
Only one of those is primary, that being (3) retribution or the reparation of the disorder caused by the transgression, aka redress, justice or just retribution. All the others are expected or realized outcome of sanction, but not the foundation for it. Justice is primary, with all other outcomes, deterrence, safety, etc, important, but secondary. Justice requires the guilt of the sanctioned party. Without that, all three others are unjust.
“(The amended 2267) is problematic for placing a prudential judgment in a catechetical text, more problematically so than in an encyclical like Evangelium Vitae." "Paragraph 2266 of the Catechism names the primary consideration of retribution (redress), but (the amended) 2267 ignores it.” "There are times when the state needs capital punishment in order to save society." “This is Christian doctrine.” “The cogency of Catholic apologetics crumbles when reason is abandoned for sentimentality in consequence of philosophical idealism and subjectivism.” “On Capital Punishment”, Fr. George Rutler, National Catholic Register, March 24-31, 2002
1) The death penalty teachings in CCC 2267 are prudential judgments and have been confirmed as such by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (1), Cardinal-Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, who became Pope Benedict XVI.
John Paul II (SPJPII) appointed Ratzinger.
As a prudential judgment, any good Catholic may, justly, reject the 2267 amendment, may call for more executions, based upon 2000 years of Church tradition, finding that justice is primary, as confirmed within the most recent CCC (see redress) , and that a primary principle, justice, cannot be subjugated by a secondary principle, even an important one, such as defense of society, and one can confirm the rational truth that the death penalty/executions save and protect innocents, in six ways, better than does a life sentence (2&5), calling upon a compassionate Church to consider that sparing more murderers will cause more innocents to be murdered (2), as history and the facts make clear (2&5) and that execution may provide some unjust aggressors with expiation (3), a means to salvation, the ultimate in restorative justice (3).
As taught in this very same CCC, redress (aka justice and just retribution) are primary and eternal. Public defense/criminal justice systems are secular and utilitarian and, therefore, must always be secondary to the primary, eternal truth of justice. Yet, the CCC, SPJPII and Pope Francis are stating that secular utilitarianism must rule over the Church teachings of justice - a clear error.
Always and everywhere there is the prescribed sanction of "For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning.... "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed." (CCC 2260), "For in the image of God have human beings been made" (see Genesis 9:5-6). which, is confirmed in the Council of Trent, that execution represents paramount obedience to that commandment.
Paramount obedience is primary.
What we have today, in 2267, is the Church making every possible effort to avoid such paramount obedience to eternal teachings and to replace that with a human reliance on incarceration systems, strictly secular and in error.
2) Re: CCC 2267:
from Kevin L. Flannery S.J., Consultor of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Flannery was, also, appointed by PJPII.
“The most reasonable conclusion to draw from this discussion is that, once again, the Catechism is simply wrong from an historical point of view. Traditional Catholic teaching did not contain the restriction enunciated by Pope John Paul II." (4).
"The realm of human affairs is a messy one, full of at least apparent inconsistency and incoherence, and the recent teaching of the Catholic Church on capital punishment—vitiated, as I intend to show, by errors of historical fact and interpretation—is no exception.” (4)
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Pope John Paul II: His death penalty errors
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3) from the amended 2267: " 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."
Reply: Such does not appear to exist in traditional or any other Catholic teaching and, since this 1997 amendment, I am unaware that anyone has found that it does. It seems to have just appeared, out of thin air. It is, in fact, contrary to the traditional teachings.
There are, also, both rational and lack of compassion errors:
The issue is not the "only possible" way of "effectively" defending human lives. From a rational standpoint, that is irrelevant.
The issue is what is the "best possible and effective sanction to protect innocent lives from unjust aggressors".
Rationally, that would be the death penalty, which protects innocent lives, in six ways, better than lesser sanctions (2&5) and which, in many cases, a) provides that the primary purpose of sanction, justice/redress will best be served by the death penalty and b) Yes, the 2267 amendments were prudential judgments, with a factual assertion that was entirely false, with zero fact
checking and showing little interest - a grossly irresponsible judgment, not prudent --- this at a time, 1995 and through today, when the Church, and four successive Popes were/are in the midst of the horrendous
moral scandal of priests being allowed to sexually assault children,
repeatedly, with many in the Church, actively, trying to cover it up (8).
Why weren't the Church and those four Popes sensitive
to crime victims and their offenders being allowed to re-offend, but, instead, such was, completely, forgotten within the amended CCC (8).
2022 update: "German authorities called for further investigation after an independent audit faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI for having botched four cases of abuse when he was archbishop of Munich, Germany." As Cardinal Ratzinger, he headed The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for nearly a quarter-century, before he became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005."
1997-2022
Death Penalty: Catholic Doctrinal "Development" Without Foundation
From Evangelium Vitae (1995) forward, the Church has presented a false narrative, which is the foundation of the development of doctrine on the death penalty, wrongly placed into the CCC.(1997, 2018).
The Church’s claim that the modern criminal justice systems have rendered the need for the death penalty either practically non-existent (1997) or inadmissible (2018) is clearly, obviously false (2 & 5).
The Church is well aware that criminal justice systems are, highly, irresponsible, allowing violent offenders to harm and murder, again, repeatedly, in prison, after escape and after release or not restraining them, at all, resulting in countless innocents harmed or murdered, every day (2b).
It is astounding that the Church, intentionally, avoided that (2b), in the context of Her 70-700 years of acting in a similar fashion (8).
All of which is not only obvious to the Church but to anyone who pays attention.
As such is the alleged foundation of the changes, since 1995, there is no foundation for those changes.
The following is a review of the obvious problems within the latest amendment to CCC 2267 (2018):
The Church made it about "safeguarding the common good" (2267), which the Church cannot do. Why?
The Church knows that justice is primary and safeguarding, while very important, must be and is, always, secondary. Rationally and factually, the death penalty is a greater safeguard than either a life sentence and/or solitary confinement, both of which Pope Francis opposes, making it clear that "safeguarding the common good" is, certainly, of no concern (8) in refuting 2000 years of well established Church teachings.
2267: “Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption."
Reply: 1) There is no new increasing awareness of the dignity of persons, as has been, fully, covered from Genesis, as throughout the bible, witnessed by St. Dismas and fully, addressed by the Church, for centuries.
2) We are all, well aware, or should be, of the many major problems within criminal justice systems, again and again, having practices and errors which harm innocents, every day and throughout the world (2,5).
3) The Church cannot deny that God grants us the opportunity of redemption, at all times, and within all circumstances, regardless of how or when we die, obviously, inclusive of the death penalty.
Only man can deprive himself of the possibility of. redemption. God, always and in all circumstances, offers it to us, prior to our deaths, no matter when and what that death may be. As we are all "guilty", all Christians know the possibility of redemption will, always, exist, prior to our deaths, no matter what that death maybe.
The Church cannot refute that, as She attempts . . . and fails.
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2018 CCC 2267 amendment: 13 (15) Factual Errors
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Relevant historical note:
70 AD and 1960 "Religious documents dating back to before the writing of the New Testament highlight problems inside the Church regarding sexual rule-breaking and the abuse of boys." " . . . examine the Didache, a very early theological text (accepted by Catholic Church in the collection of the Apostolic Fathers) which is usually dated around 70 A.D."
" . . . it does not appear that there was a time that the Church was effective at preventing child abuse -- this is a problem that reaches back to the earliest days of its formation and practice."
" . . . in the last 50 years (1960-2010) some 30,000 people in 25 countries have reported abuse committed by the Church's many workers."The Long Scancdal: A History of Abuse Alex Wilhelm, religious commentator,
HuffPost Jul 5, 2010, Updated May 25, 2011
1980: Priest John Geoghan asserts that his repeated abuse of seven boys in one extended family was not a “serious” problem, according to a (Boston) archdiocesan record.
1984: By 1984, Cardinal Bernard Law had no moral credibility. Law knew about Priest John Geoghan’s (child sex abuse) problems in 1984, Law’s first year in Boston, yet approved his transfer to St. Julia’s parish in Weston.". Bishop John M. D’Arcy wrote to Law, challenging the wisdom of the assignment in light of Geoghan’s “history of homosexual involvement with young boys.” The warning was not headed.
1985: "At a bishops synod in Rome in 1985, Cardinal Law proposed the publication of a new Catholic catechism.", this one.
Law is assigned to the Commission, writing the Catechism.
The first significant US public disclosure of clergy sex abuse, in
Louisiana.
In 1989, (Geoghan) was forced to go on sick leave after more complaints of sexual abuse, and spent months in two institutions that treat sexually abusive priests.
1990-1993: Even so, the archdiocese returned (Geoghan) to St. Julia’s, where Geoghan continued to abuse children for another three years.
1992: Newest Catechism published in French. Law is in charge of its English translation.
1994: English version published.
mid 1990s: "Since the mid-1990s, more than 130 people have come forward with horrific
childhood tales about how former priest John J. Geoghan allegedly fondled or
raped them during a three-decade spree through a half-dozen Greater Boston
parishes." " Almost always, his victims were grammar school boys. One was just 4 years
old."
1995: The St. Julia’s assignment proved disastrous. Geoghan was put in charge of three youth groups, including altar boys.
1997: The Latin typical edition of the CCC came out in 1997, with a few
amendments to the original French text. All major documents issued by the
Vatican are issued in authoritative Latin "typical editions," i.e. the editions
from which all others are to be derived. All amendments, inclusive of 2267, were
made to the other language versions, as second editions.
2002: " . . .July’s (2002) disclosure that Cardinal Bernard F. Law knew about Priest John Geoghan’s (child sex abuse) problems in 1984, Law’s first year in Boston, yet approved his transfer to St. Julia’s parish in Weston."
(1940's through) 2002: "The (Massachusettes) attorney general’s office said the *child sex abuse) abuse extended over six decades and involved at least 237 priests and 789 children; of those, 48 priests and other archdiocesan employees were alleged to have abused children while Law was leader of the Boston archdiocese (1984-2002)."
Dec, 2002: Law resigns.
2004: John Paul II appointed Law archpriest of the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Mary Major (Rome), a sinecure which made him the pontiff’s delegate to one of Rome’s four principal basilicas. - a reminder of the regard in which the Vatican held Cardinal Law.
JPII made it loud and clear how the Church viewed repeated and well known child sexual abuse, committed by its priests, and his regard for covering it up, thereby allowing that activity to continue (8).
The gross insult to victims and their survivors was at a disgraceful level.
Repulsive.
2019 - Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI were both blamed in the Vatican report for allowing McCarrick to rise in power despite the fact that they both knew of sex abuse allegations against him.
Think about that. Hard.
2019 - Numerous bishops across the United States withheld the names of hundreds of Catholic clergy who were accused of committing acts of sex abuse.
Think about that. Hard.
2022 - Pope Emeritus Benedict XV Accused of Covering Up Abuse Cases in Germany | Joseph Ratzinger will have to give explanations before the Justice
Think about that. Hard.
2024 - Catholic church still failing to deal with sexual abuse cases, The Guardian, Oct 29, 2024
2025 - Catholic Church loses key battle to keep state probe of clergy sex abuse secret, New Jersey Monitor, March 6, 2025
2025 forward - "Is the Catholic church headed into a new era of secrecy over child sex abuse? A Vatican opinion released shortly before Pope Francis died advises against public church listings of clergy members deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse — which virtually every American diocese has. By Robert Herguth, Chicago Sun Times, Aug 1, 2025
The Church has, never, stopped secrecy, hiding and minimizing the horrors (8).
After 65 or 2000 years, the Church has refused to learn to be responsible, open and transparent, hurting the innocent victims, even more, the pattern (8).
Will the Church continue to act in this manner? There is zero indication of a reformed morality, with it evident the Church may do worse, recently choosing more secrecy, after 65 years within this, newest, mass of abuses.
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13 (15) Factual Errors: 2018 CCC 2267 Amendment
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4) from 2267: ""If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person."
Reply: This is opposite the confirmed facts (2&5) and is in error, by reason.
"Sufficient' does not mean better, does not mean worse. It is no standard.
In 2258-2266 the standard is a requirement to protect innocents from unjust aggressors: 2265: "the common good requires rendering the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm.".
With the amended CCC 2267, the "common good" requires us to do everything we can "not to render the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm.", or, to put it another way, "the unjust aggressors must always be able to harm, again" - the opposite of 2258-2266 and of reason.
Pope Francis has, personally, confirmed his support of that positions, calling for the removal of the death penalty, life in prison and solitary confinement (6), which conflicts with:
CCC 2260: "For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning.... Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image." "This teaching remains necessary for all time."
This is an eternal command, contradicted by the amended 2267's secular "bloodless means".
"surely require a reckoning" and "shall" overwhelm a "sufficiency" standard, which is no standard, at all.
Also problematic is the lack of compassion, as detailed.
The issue is what is the "best possible and most effective way to defend innocent lives. Such would be the death penalty, which protects innocent lives, in six ways, better than lesser sanctions (2&5) and which, in some cases, provides that the primary purpose of sanction, justice/redress will best be served by the death penalty.
Later, the Church amended, again 2267, replacing "bloodless" with "non- lethal". Why?
Because the secular "bloodless" was too obvious a conflict with that eternal command within 2260 - "by man shall his blood be shed;" - and 2260, further, establishes that execution is most "in conformity to the dignity of the human person", as it is a commandment from God, which defines the dignity of man, made in God's image.
I cannot find where Church teachings define which sanctions are "most in conformity to the dignity of the human person".
The dignity of each human person is the result of the actions and beliefs of each individual, as observed with Sodom and Gomorrah and the like and what became of those individuals, just as with the Saints and Fathers of the Church, with their actions and beliefs and their dignity.
Upholding human dignity cannot be anything but the foundation of the Genesis passage, as man was made in God's image. By their heart and actions, with free will, men may accept or reject that dignity, following the teachings of Christ or rejecting them.
CCC 2265: "Preserving the common good requires rendering the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm." - "requires" - teachings which are contradicted, just a few paragraphs later, within 2267.
"requires"and "shall" rule over "sufficiency".
Reason dictates that:
If by "sufficient", 2267 is telling us that "sufficient" meets the requirement to render the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm", then we know "sufficient" must include the death penalty, thereby finding that 2267 agrees with 2265-2266, but also contradicts 2267, which is not, rationally, possible.
If 2267 excludes the death penalty, then we know that "sufficient" excludes sanctions which "render the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm" and therefore, under 2267, the standard for the common good, now includes sanctions which fail to "render the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm", lowering compassion and safety for the innocent, by allowing more murderers to harm, again (2&5), and is, therefore, in contradiction of 2265-2266, the pattern.
Pope Francis doubled downs on this last paragraph, with his rejection of life imprisonment and solitary confinement, as well, thus condemning more innocents, in exchange that our worst unjust aggressors should be spared and freed (2&5).
Obvious, unchallenged and a replication of the the priest sex horrors, except in plain sight.
“Absolute rejection of capital punishment weakens the cogency of pro-life apologetics.” “As the Church's teaching on contraception cannot "develop" in a way that would declare its intrinsic evil to be good, so the right of a state to execute criminals cannot "develop" so that its intrinsic good becomes evil. “ “The pastoral commentary of the Church guides moral method, but the prudential calculus, in punishment as in the declaration of war, rests in the civil government whose authority pertains to natural law and is not granted by the Church." "To propose otherwise under the guise of doctrinal development would be a species of clerical triumphalism that post-Enlightenment humanists claimed to abhor.” “On Capital Punishment”, Fr. George Rutler, National Catholic Register, March 24-31, 2002
By reason and CCC, the common good requires executions, as it is the only sanction which "renders the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm.". Unchallenged. Rationally undeniable.
All are aware that living murderers, as other unjust aggressors, can and do harm and murder, again and again, countless times per day, within prison, under supervision, after release, after escape and after we fail to restrain them (2&5). Executed ones do not. Obvious and unchallenged.
What the amended 2267 teaches is that we must, always, keep our worst offenders able to inflict harm, again.
Reason and history confirm, conclusively, that amended 2267 will produce more innocents harmed and murdered (2&5).
Sufficiency is not the issue and it is not a standard.
The issue is what
sanction best fulfills justice (redress), it's primary function, and what sanction best protects innocents, a secondary function, if both compassion and safety of innocents are to be, truly, considered.
The Church and authors of the amendments willfully, refuse to, factually and rationally, consider those issues. Logically, the reason for that is that neither justice nor safety for innocents are the primary concerns, anymore. The primary focus has become to make sure that all murderers, as other dangerous criminals, are protected and safe from the death penalty, even though it puts many more innocents at risk, as the Church must know.
As confirmed by reason and 2000 years of Church teachings, execution is just in some cases (redress) and execution protects additional
innocent lives, in six ways, better than does a life sentence (2&5) or lesser
sanction, establishing execution as both more compassionate and a better defender of society and innocent lives, than lesser sanctions (2&5).
2266: "The State's effort to contain the spread of behaviors injurious to
human rights and the fundamental rules of civil coexistence corresponds to the
requirement of watching over the common good." which "requires
rendering the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm".
"requires" and "shall" rule over "sufficiency" and saving more innocent lives rules over sacrificing more innocent lives, that is until the amended 2267 lays waste to everything before it (2258-2266).
5) from amended 2267: "Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal
to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed
it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself,
cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very
rare, if not practically non-existent."
Rebuttal
The known reality is so in conflict with that statement (2&5) that one is staggered by its irresponsibility and/or deception.
The reality is the opposite of the amended 2267. To paraphrase, It is "very rare, if not practically non-existent.'" for the State "to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who
has committed it." (2&5).
Measured recidivism in the US is at about 80%, within 5 years of release
(4a), yet we don't solve about 75% of crimes, so the recidivism rate is much
higher, likely close to 100%. That recidivism does not include crimes committed within prison/jail, which are epidemic (2&5).
All of which is very well known by the Church, again, rendering both EV and the amended CCC dead wrong, as all would have known had they cared one wit about additional harm to innocents. Clearly, they did not, or they lied. There is no other explanation - this in the absolute middle of uncovering the horrendous
priest sex abuse scandals and its cover up, by Church leadership.
It defies any type of rational consideration, with EV and the amended 2267.
b) It is not "possibility", "means" or potential of preventing crime,
but the reality, which matters. Is the Church that oblivious or hiding it, when it cannot be hidden?
The most obvious, relevant example is that the Church not only had the
"possibility", the "means" and potential to prevent child sex abuse by priests, but the
moral obligation and "absolute necessity" to do so, yet, instead, abandoned the innocent and protected
the guilty, allowing some to repeat their crimes, over a period of 70-600 years, that we know of, with the Church covering it up.
From where does the Church obtain such blind and irresponsible confidence that secular criminal justice systems will perform better than She did?
From nowhere . . . nor does the Church envision that either "possibility" or "means" will reflect any reality in actually protecting the innocent, which is why She completely avoids reality and replaced it with blind speculation - "possibility" and "means".
It is a total abdication of responsibility and a negation of CCC 2258-2266 . . . by the Church.
A significant rational error is that EV attempts to erase execution, if it is not the "only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings". There is nothing within reason or Catholic teachings that says we must either include or exclude a method of sanction, because there may be another "practicable way to defend the lives of human beings".
Our obligation is to find the "best way to defend the lives of innocent human beings from unjust aggressors", which, in many cases, means the death penalty, which better protects innocents than do lesser sanctions, in six ways (2) and is a sanction which more corresponds with justice (redress), the primary function, as recognized by the Church, even in this CCC.
It is astounding that the Church could say that such moral and protection
failures are "very rare, if not practically nonexistent . . . ". in the secular
world, when She has such horrendous failures Herself, so well observed, the
exact moment of Her incomprehensible statements, when such secular failures are just as well known
(2&5) by the Church and continue to occur, every day.
So what does the Church say?
Avoid reality, instead establish what "means are possible", thus, irrationally, excluding reality from the discussion, repeating Her same errors, as She, again, looks the other way as more and more innocents are harmed (8). Horrendous.
Both EV and the CCC invented the fiction that such criminal justice failures, within our modern standards are "very rare, if not practically nonexistent . . . ". The Church, intentionally, evades fact and reason (2&5). Why? How?
This may reflect the mindset: The majority of Pope Francis' 2014 speech to the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PENAL LAW looked at the unjust aggressors as the victims and left out discussing the true innocent victims until the near end of his speech (6).
Responsibility demands a consideration of reality which must rule over the irresponsibility of the "possibility" and "means", if innocent lives and compassion are relevant and they must be, but were negated by both EV and the CCC.
Man errs
and sins and any "err" by the Church and man should be on the side which protects
more innocent lives (see 2258-2266) as opposed to what the CCC has now, in 2267, which is to, knowingly, spare more guilty lives at the cost of sacrificing
more innocent lives, again (2&5).
How the Church jumped from a standard of "requires", "shall", "paramount obedience" and reality to one of speculation - "possibility" "means" and "sufficiency" - within this same section, is a sad, irresponsible and dangerous mystery.
It
is hard to imagine how the Church subverted an eternal teaching, described by
Her as primary, that being justice and redress, and replaced it with a prudential judgement, based upon Her willfully ignorant, secular fictions of prison security, admittedly secondary or tertiary in
nature, and, in so doing put more innocents at risk by exposing
them to the worst of the unjust aggressors,
murderers, as others.
To paraphrase: "Today, in fact, 'given the means at the State's disposal', countless innocents are murdered and harmed, every day, by known repeat
offender/unjust aggressors, because of the reality of widespread human error and
harm committed in the world's criminal justice systems (2&5), just as with
the Church's 'mismanagement' of the priest sex horrors, whereby "possibilities", "means" and "sufficiency" had zero relevance to the reality of Her not protecting the
innocent."
Such reality is the factual opposite of: "very rare, if not practically
nonexistent . . . ". And the Church has to have known it, since 1995 and long before, if aware of reality.
It is astonishing that neither EV nor CCC show any
consciousness of this, when EV and the amended 2267 were written as the
firestorm of the priest sex scandal raged.
As Catholic theologian Steven Long places the arrow:
" . . . (it) is symptomatic of a society that can garner more support to
spare the guilty than to save the innocent."
"The crowd still wants Barrabas." (15)
SPJPII, Francis and Church leadership, in general. seem to have, completely, forgotten about the priest sex scandal, in this exact context, that the criminal
justice system, as the Church, constantly, makes huge errors in judgement and
practice and , because of that, many more innocents are harmed (2,5,8)
Not only are all their writings and comments devoid of any awareness of
that reality, but they seem determined to spread their dangerous falsehoods to
others, with Pope Francis doubling down, also seeking
an end to life sentences and solitary confinement.
When these well known realities are taken into account, the foundations of the
newest death penalty teachings, within both EV and the amended CCC 2267, disintegrate.
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Pope Francis' Many Problems
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2017/12/pope-francis-many-problems.html
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c) ". . . without definitely taking away from him the possibility of
redeeming himself"
How this language could, possibly, get into a Catechism is
incomprehensible. Man does not redeem "himself", but is redeemed through the grace and mercy
of God.
The CCC is saying that God is taking away from man the possibility of
redeeming himself, because of an early and earthly death - execution.
Biblically and theologically, that is not possible, of course.
The, well, known teaching, not subject to change, is that we all have the
opportunity of redemption (3), prior to our deaths, whatever that early and
earthly death may be, whether by cancer, car wreck, old age, drowning, murder,
execution (3) and all other deaths. None are excluded.
The story of the good thief on the cross, St. Dismas, is an obvious example, contradicting the CCC's wrongful reversal of these eternal teachings.
And the authors of CCC are, somehow, unaware?
We all die early and earthly deaths.
What the CCC has done is to make a secular exception to an eternal teaching.
Man, via the Church, has, now, established an exception to God's redemption, that being that execution is the only earthly and early death which denies that God provides for the opportunity for man's redemption, prior to death -- a teaching that can, obviously, never be true.
What 2267 does is attempt to establish a foundation for death penalty exclusion, based
upon possibilities, means and sufficiency, thereby providing more harm to both innocents
and murderers, in conflict with reason, fact, biblical and theological teachings, inclusive of the same CCC, and
Church traditions.
This is not the norm for inclusion into a Catechism.
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Archbishop Charles Chaput: “Both Scripture and long Christian tradition acknowledge the legitimacy of capital punishment . . . " "The Church cannot repudiate (the death penalty) without repudiating her own identity." (3)
2015, Pope Francis calls for the end of capital punishment, in all cases, thereby, according to Chaput, disavowing the Church's identity, as supported by . . .
Saint (& Pope) Pius V, "The just use of (executions), far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this (Fifth) Commandment which prohibits murder." "The Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent" (1566).
Paramount obedience.
From the newest Catholic Catechism
CCC 2260 The covenant between God and mankind is interwoven with reminders of God's gift of human life and man's murderous violence:
"For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning. . . . Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. This teaching remains necessary for all time."
. . . the source for which is the Noahic Covenant, Genesis 9:6, an eternal command, for all peoples and all times, which establishes the sacredness of life as the foundation for death penalty support.
======
Additional writings:
--- By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment, Edward Feser, Joseph Bessette 2017
In defense of the, above, book:
1) Hot Air vs. Capital Punishment: A Reply to Paul Griffiths and David Bentley Hart, Dr. Edward Feser, The Catholic World Report, November 28, 2017,
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/11/28/hot-air-versus-capital-punishment-a-reply-to-paul-griffiths-and-david-bentley-hart/
"Griffiths’ review in First Things . . . is rich in condescension, high in dudgeon, and largely devoid of substantive engagement with the book’s arguments."
"Hart’s review in Commonweal is so rhetorically over-the-top and dishonest that the effect is more comical than offensive"
2) Yes, traditional Church teaching on
capital punishment is definitive, Dr. Edward Feser, The Catholic World Report,
11/21/2017,
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/11/21/yes-traditional-church-teaching-on-capital-punishment-is-definitive/
"Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the popes for
2000 years have taught that capital punishment can be legitimate in principle .
. . this teaching is irreformable."
"Given the “hermeneutic of continuity”
emphasized by Pope Benedict XVI – and given especially the teaching of the First
Vatican Council that popes have no authority to introduce new doctrines . . . "
3) Reply to Brugger and
Tollefsen
Part 1
Traditional Catholic
Doctrine on Capital Punishment is Irreversible: A Reply to E. Christian
Brugger, by Edward Feser, The Public Discourse, November 19th, 2017, http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2017/11/20497/
"The Catholic Church has always taught that capital punishment can be legitimate under certain circumstances. Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and every pope who has commented on the topic up to Benedict XVI have all clearly and repeatedly affirmed this teaching."
Part 2
St. John Paul II Did Not
Change Catholic Teaching on Capital Punishment: A Reply to E. Christian
Brugger
by Edward Feser, The Public Discourse, November 20th, 2017, http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2017/11/20501/
"To change (the Church's 2000 year old teachings) would be to contradict the clear and consistent teaching of scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the popes, and no pope has the authority to do that. "
Part 3
Capital Punishment,
Catholicism, and Natural Law: A Reply to Christopher Tollefsen, by Edward
Feser, 11/21/2017, http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2017/11/20504/
" . . . the reason a person can be deprived even of the highest good, God, is that a person can do something to deserve such a loss. The same thing is true of life. A person has a right not to be killed unless—by virtue of having committed a sufficiently heinous crime—he has, as Pope Pius XII put it, “deprived himself of the right to live.” Tollefsen’s argument against capital punishment simply ignores the fact that the right to the enjoyment of a good—any good—depends on whether or not one is guilty or innocent."
4) Capital Punishment: Eppur
non si muove, Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing, NOVEMBER 4, 2017, https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/11/04/capital-punishment-eppur-non-si-muove/
"But in our day, when even the heavens apparently do move, we need a
different sort of telescope for seeing the changelessness of the other – one
that has the clear lens of reason, and the long extension of history, and which
is situated in a calm and still observatory.
This exactly is what Edward Feser and Joseph Bessette provide in their
recent book, By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed, the most comprehensive case ever
assembled it. Yes, one can avoid becoming persuaded by not looking into that
telescope. But if you do, you may see so clearly the unchanging nature of the
question that you will quip, Eppur non si muove, “Nevertheless it does not
move.”
5) Reviews: By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital
Punishment, Janet Smith, moral theologian, Claremont Review of Books, Fall
2017
" . . . the arguments are so strong, I timidly suggest, that perhaps the
authors should have allowed readers to “draw their own conclusions” more often.
But let me say, the book simply flattens its opponents."
"(Bessette) uses this data to refute claims made by the (United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops) that capital punishment has no deterrent power,
that innocent persons are regularly executed, that the application of the death
penalty has been unfairly applied to minorities and the poor."
"Feser systematically refutes the arguments of those who think the Church
now teaches that capital punishment is intrinsically unjust. He helps readers
to see how weak our attachment to justice has become and how little we allow
tight reasoning about justice to govern our thinking…"
6) Review: By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital
Punishment, Daniel Lendman, Reading Religion, a publication of the American
Academy of Religion, June 29, 2017,
"Feser and Bessette… insist that the legitimacy of capital punishment is
the ancient and long-standing teaching of the Catholic Church. [They] go even
farther, laying out a compelling case that denying that capital punishment can
be legitimate in principle is proximate to heresy…"
"While the context of this argument is decidedly and purposefully Catholic,
readers of different religions and belief systems can still find forceful
natural law arguments supporting capital punishment in this book. The authors
also offer arguments claiming the prudence of using capital punishment in the
United States, . . . "
7) "Can the Church ever bless the death penalty?", by Dan Hitchens, deputy
editor of the Catholic Herald, 25 May 2017,
"As Feser remarks . . . some theologians “have turned the notion of
development into a euphemism or lawyer’s trick whereby outright reversals of
past teaching are magically made orthodox by slapping the label ‘development’ on
them. You might as well say that denying Christ’s divinity or the doctrine of
original sin can be reconciled with past teaching as long as we call them
‘developments’ and get enough people to go along with this sleight of
hand.”
“Punishment,” Feser and Bessette write, “is a matter of restoring the
natural connection between pain and acting contrary to nature’s ends.”
"They quote Aquinas as saying that since an offender “has been too
indulgent to his will”, he should suffer “either willingly or unwillingly,
something contrary to what he would wish”, for the sake of the “restoration of
the equality of justice”. The same idea is affirmed by the 1992
Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Punishment has the primary aim of redressing
the disorder introduced by the offence.' ”
"Feser and Bessette’s defense of capital punishment is a triumph of truth
over platitude, of fact over fiction, of argument over emotion. In response to
recent condemnations of the death penalty issued by various ecclesiastics, Feser
and Bessette calmly and methodically set forth the philosophical, Scriptural,
doctrinal, and sociological arguments grounding the Catholic Church’s hitherto
unquestioned – and ultimately unquestionable – support for the death penalty
when it is justly administered. Defenders of capital punishment will find in
these pages persuasive arguments upholding the proper exercise of this momentous
state power and opponents of the death penalty will see their challenges
accurately depicted and soberly answered. From this point on, all contributions
to the capital punishment debate, especially as conducted by and among
Catholics, must incorporate the work of Feser and Bessette or risk
irrelevance."
==============
--- The Traditional (CATHOLIC) Case for
Capital Punishment, By Fr. C. John McCloskey, The Catholic Thing, MARCH 16
2015
www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/03/16/the-traditional-case-for-capital-punishment/
---
Four Catholic Journals Indulge in (anti death penalty) Doctrinal Solipsism,
Steven Long, THOMISTICA, March 5, 2015,
http://thomistica.net/commentary/2015/3/5/mutationist-views-of-doctrinal-development-and-the-death-penalty
---
Okay, what about Catholics and the death penalty? In the Light of the Law A
Canon Lawyer's Blog, Edward Peters, JD, JCD, Ref. Sig. Ap. March 9, 2015,
https://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/okay-what-about-catholics-and-the-death-penalty/
---
Intellectual dishonesty and the "Seamless Garment" argument, JIMMY AKIN,
National Catholic Register, 01/25/2015
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/intellectual-dishonesty-and-the-seamless-garment-argument#ixzz3PxPynfIi
---- New Testament Death Penalty Support Overwhelming
Many more, here:
Religion and The Death Penalty
Research, w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required of everyone in a public policy debate and which rebut all anti-death penalty claims.
The media/academic norm is to use anti-death penalty material, refuse to fact check or vet it and avoid all pro-death penalty research and experts. How will you know that is true? You haven't seen this material, prior.
a) The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
b) Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
(7 pro-death penalty experts are included)
600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
======FOOTNOTES
1)
"3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia.
For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the
application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not
for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy
Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war,
and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may
still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse
to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among
Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with
regard to abortion and euthanasia."
"Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion:
General Principles, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, from a memorandum sent by
Cardinal Ratzinger to Cardinal McCarrick, made public in the first week of July
2004.
2) a) The Death Penalty: SAVING MORE INNOCENT LIVES
A Review of All Innocence
Issues
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-death-penalty-do-innocents-matter.html
b) Catechism & State Protection
and
Do a google search: I am
sure this was not done for either Evangelium Vitae or the CCC amended 2267.
a) crime
recidivism -- 852,000 results (0.34 seconds)
b) prison violence --
179,000,000 results (0.24 seconds)
c) prison "cell phone" crime --
1,780,000 results (0.37 seconds)
d) recruit terrorism prison -- 12,800,000
results (0.40 seconds)
e) prison escape news -- 5,720,000 results (0.31
seconds)
f) repeat offender -- 1,170,000 results (0.63 seconds)
and on and on and on, forever, and the Church, never, considered it
6) ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS: TO THE DELEGATES OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PENAL LAW, Hall of Popes, Thursday, 23 October 2014
8) 30 Examples: How Death Penalty Abolitionists Value Murderers
More Than Their Innocent Victims:
AKA - Full Rebuttal of Sir Richard Branson & His Death Penalty Comments
======
Partial CV, Dudley Sharp
