[Norman Bates]

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput at a catechetical conference in 2002: “If we say we’re Catholic, we need to act like it. When Catholic Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia publicly disputes Church teaching on the death penalty, the message he sends is not so very different from Frances Kissling (of “Catholics for a Free Choice”) disputing what the Church teaches about abortion."

That statement is not consistent with paragraph 2266 of the Catechism of the Church. It is simply not true to say that the church opposed the death penalty under legitimate circumstances. It is quite unimaginable to single out Justice Scalia's support of a tenable Catholic doctrine and compare it to abortion supporters.

[A.A. Cunningham]

That’s why Chaput’s comments here, much like his comments about illegal aliens, are known as prudential and not doctrinal.