Catholic Church on the Death Penalty

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Catholic Church on the Death Penalty
Outline
Thesis: The history of the Catholic Church on death penalty illustrates that administering this sort of punishment does not bring about any positive outcomes in the society in context of religion. This forms the premise of this paper and not the legitimacy of the practice. Overall, the Catholic Church should cease support for the death penalty entirely.
* Introduction
* History of the Catholic Church on Death penalty
* Emergent Trends among Catholics perceptions/ views on death penalty
1 The Death penalty is against teachings of Jesus Christ
2 Pope John Paul II indicated the practice to be immoral and undervaluing human life.
* The Bible on Death penalty
1 Misconception of the experience of Ananias and Sapphira
* The Catechism and Catholic leadership on Death penalty
1 American Catholics Bishops association has come out to oppose the practice to some level.
* Modernization and Age of Enlightenment on Death penalty
1 Christians around the world are changing their views about capital punishment and putting pressure on the Catholic Church to fully denounce and refute the practice.
* Conclusion
Catholic Church on the Death Penalty
Introduction
The death penalty refers to execution of persons involved in gross criminal offenses by the state or judicial organs as a form of punishment. Criminal offenses that result in death penalty are referred to as capital offenses or capital crimes. From the time of the inception of the early church, Christians did not express opposition to the idea of Death Penalty. Today most religious organizations, including the Catholic Church, are inclined to object this very idea, which ironically is what happened to Jesus Christ- the initiator of Christianity as well as many other martyrs involved with the Christian faith. The underlying premise in studying the history of this subject matter with regards to the Catholic Church remains if administering death penalty brings about any positive outcomes in the society in context of religion as opposed to the legitimacy of the practice.
History of the Catholic Church on Death Penalty
The past few decades have witnessed a lot of contention among the Catholic faithful regarding the topic of death penalty. It remains largely unclear and confusing what the Catholic Church’s final stand on this subject matter is, with a sizable portion of Catholics claiming the church has finally relinquished its support for the capital punishment (death penalty). It has been argued that supporting this form of legal action goes long way in contravening the church’s moral standing, considering that Christianity is about securing value for human life, forgiveness and amendment of human behavior for the better (Dulles, 1). In fact, Jesus Christ’s teachings were directed to wrongdoers, those in need of spiritual and moral nourishment and or salvation.
For over 4,000 years now, the death penalty has been practiced the world over as a public spectacle. In earlier times and in the context of Catholicism, heretics (people with opinions that contradict those of the Christian doctrine) were burnt to death by mandate of the church. This practice was even more common under the rule of Queen Mary I of England and other former world leaders as well (Dulles, 1).
Most notably, changes of perception towards death penalty among Catholics became prevalent under the leadership of Pope John Paul II. In fact, he became a victim of assault and assassination attempt but advocated for the message of forgives consequently. The pope went a step further to call for the elimination of death penalty, referring to this specific occasion of his own experience. In his Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) of 1995, the pope categorically stated that the taking of an innocent person’s life is immoral; special emphasis in this case should be placed on the word innocent. In other words, the pope meant that death penalty could be practiced to some extent and in the name of defending the society (Olson, 1).
Many Catholics have since argued that the church’s stand on death penalty should reflect its stand on matters like abortion and euthanasia since these topics relate to each other in an obvious manner (Dulles, 2). Indeed, all these acts involve the taking of human life against their will and or consent. Such acts also contradict with the church’s centuries old teachings- drawn from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, about dignity and value of human life, which were highly exemplified by the leadership and living of Pope John Paul II (Owens, 140).
The operations of the Catholic Church have been somewhat much alike to those of a political system for ages. Indeed, papal authority bore much influence on political and legal structures of Europe in earlier times. Drawing on assertions of Catholic Popes during the Middle Ages, there developed a general thought that criminals deserve punishment in this life as much as they did in the next, and, in serious criminal cases, the state was in its rightful place to administer capital punishment. The church’s magisterium never tried to denounce nor refute the practice of capital punishment. In the context of the 13th century for instance, it is rather unproblematic to comprehend the way Pope Innocent III bore strong support for administration of capital punishment to heretics (Olson, 1).
Looking at some examples in the bible like the experience of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts Chapter 5) for example, some Christians tend to think that some instances of gross misconduct warrant the administration of capital punishment. However, this represents a different situation altogether, where divine punishment takes center stage as opposed to the right to kill by fellow human beings. The book of Hebrews states in chapter 10, verse 28 that a person "who has violated the laws of Moses dies without mercy…" This scenario hence depicts a clear association between death and sin, as enshrined in...