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St. Alphonsus: ". . . The public authority is given the power to kill wrongdoers, and that not unjustly . . ." St. Alphonsus, Holy Doctor of the Faith Inasmuch as Pope Francis chose August 2, the traditional memorial of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, bishop and confessor, Doctor of the Church, to make public his attempt to chuck down the Memory Hole the irreformable truth that "the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty," it is only fitting that the faithful recall what this eminent Doctor of Truth had to say on this...

ROME — Pope Francis has changed Catholic Church teaching to fully reject the death penalty, the Vatican announced Thursday, saying it would work to abolish capital punishment worldwide. The change addresses several sentences of the catechism, the compendium of Catholic teaching, but it sharply amplifies the church’s opposition against one of the world’s most debated policies. The church’s updated teaching states that capital punishment is “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” Previously, the church allowed for the death penalty in very rare cases, only as a means of “defending human lives against...

The big news of the day in Catholic (and other) circles concerns the announcement that Francis has issued a rescript to the CDF changing the neo-church teaching on the death penalty as stated in the so-called Catechism of the Catholic Church. (CCC)In short, CCC 2267 most recently reflected the wishes of John Paul II to say that cases of the death penalty as an absolute necessity for effectively preventing crime are “very rare, if not practically non-existent;” the quote coming from his Encyclical, Evangelium Vitae. This treatment left the door cracked ever-so-slightly for the just use of capital punishment;...

The Latest Addition to the Bergoglian Pseudo-Magisterium...For the past five years the Church has suffered under a Pope who actually believes that the Magisterium is literally whatever he thinks. To quote his own admission in this regard, made during one of his infamous interviews: “I’m constantly making statements, giving homilies. That’s magisterium. That’s what I think, not what the media say that I think. Check it out; it’s very clear.”  It occurs to me that a “magisterium” one is urged to “check out” might have a rather ephemeral quality quite inconsistent with the concept of the Magisterium rightly understood. And now the...

Pastor of Latin Mass Parish Manfully Shepherds His Flock Across the transom just now.  Please distribute.PRAY FOR THIS PRIEST, HIS CONFRERES, SUPERIORS, and ALL HOLY PRIESTS. Dear Parishioner, You may have read that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has recently announced the the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be amended to teach that the Death Penalty, i.e. the judicial condemnation of an evil-doer to death, by competent authority, is now to be considered always inadmissible. Leaving aside any discussion of particulars, and making reference only to the general principle, such a position runs contrary to the...

The British government has reportedly halted cooperating with the U.S. over two British members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) due to concerns they could face the death penalty. Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who are accused of involvement in the killing of more than two dozen hostages, are two members of a cell of ISIS fighters known as "The Beatles" because of their British accents. The U.K. government faced backlash earlier this month after agreeing to cooperate with the U.S. and share intelligence about the cases without seeking assurance that they would not face the...

Catholic Judges in Capital Cases Amy Coney Barrett, Notre Dame Law School John H. Garvey Document Type Article Publication Date 1998 Publication Information 81 Marq. L. Rev. 303 (1997-1998) Abstract The Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty places Catholic judges in a moral and legal bind. While these judges are obliged by oath, professional commitment, and the demands of citizenship to enforce the death penalty, they are also obliged to adhere to their church's teaching on moral matters. Although the legal system has a solution for this dilemma by allowing the recusal of judges whose convictions keep them from...

Liberals are employing the ultimate scare tactic in trying to stave off President Trump’s appointment of the next Supreme Court justice. On this evening’s Hardball, Rob “Meathead” Reiner suggested that if Trump gets his way, women having abortions might be “executed.” Reiner: “The pro-life people think of abortion as murder . . . What is the punishment for murder? It’s either life in prison, or the death penalty. So what are we talking about here? Are we saying that the woman and the doctor both have to be put in jail for the rest of their lives, or executed?” Get...

Christ came to me emblazoned on the upper arm of my beloved cousin Marc. The blue-black ink danced between the bullet scars and stretch marks that graced my cousin’s upper body. Atop this crown-of-thorns depiction was a tattooed banner with the phrase “Only God Can Judge Me.” Marc—like several men in my family—had been caught in the webbed threads of poverty, geography and lack of opportunity during the fever pitch of 1990s mass incarceration. Baggy-pant boys like him fit the descriptions of “super-predators” and “thugs” that dominated our national discourse at the time. Marc served his time, and has been...

The boy's mother, Pearl Fernandez, 34, pleaded guilty in connection with the boy's 2013 death in February. Fernandez's boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, was convicted of first-degree murder on Nov. 15 and a jury found true the allegation that the defendant tortured the victim. ... Gabriel was taken to a hospital in May 2013 when he stopped breathing. He had a cracked skull and broken ribs, with B.B. pellets in his lung and groin. He was declared brain dead and died two days later. Hatami argued that Aguirre and Fernandez worked to keep their treatment of Gabriel hidden by using make up...

Isaiah McCoy walked out of a Delaware prison a free man in January 2017, five years after being convicted of murder and sentenced to death. A judge found him not guilty at a retrial, and McCoy soon began enjoying the limelight that came with his exoneration. He reveled in speaking engagements before lawyers associations and anti-death penalty groups. “People were loving my story,” McCoy said. But in less than a year, he went from death row in Delaware to giving speeches about wrongful convictions to back behind bars. Now, he’s in a detention center in Hawaii, where he is charged...

— A Georgia inmate executed Friday for a 1996 shotgun slaying twitched briefly as the lethal injection flowed into his body and groaned, “It burns, man.” Robert Earl Butts Jr., 40, was declared dead by a prison warden at 9:58 p.m. after the compounded barbiturate pentobarbital was injected into his body. Prison officials said he had declined to take a sedative. Butts was convicted along with 41-year-old Marion Wilson Jr. in the March 1996 slaying of Donovan Corey Parks, an off-duty prison guard. Parks, 24, gave the men a ride outside a Walmart store in Milledgeville. The men then ordered...

Trump also criticized Democrats for opposing his proposed wall on the Southern border. “Eventually the Democrats will agree with us to build the wall and keep the damn drugs out,” he said, prompting chants of “build that wall” in the room. The president criticized sanctuary city policies for allowing illegal immigrants and drug dealers to remain in the country. He called on Congress to end funding for sanctuary cities. “If we are not going to get tough on the drug dealers who kill thousands of people and destroy so many people’s lives, we are just doing the wrong thing,” he...

ST. LOUIS — A condemned Missouri inmate faces a potentially “gruesome and painful” execution because of a rare medical condition that compromises the man’s veins and causes multiple tumors in his head and throat, his attorney said Sunday. Russell Bucklew is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday evening for killing a former girlfriend’s new boyfriend in 1996 in eastern Missouri. Bucklew, 49, was moments away from execution in May 2014 when the U.S. Supreme Court halted it amid concerns about Bucklew’s medical condition. He suffers from cavernous hemangioma, a rare ailment that causes weakened and malformed blood vessels, as well...

“I feel like I’m having to choose between you and God.” That’s what Greta Lindecrantz, a 67-year-old Mennonite, told an Arapahoe County, Colo., district judge on Wednesday after she ordered her to testify for the prosecution in a death-penalty case — or remain in jail for contempt of court. Lindecrantz had been behind bars since Monday. As she spoke, wearing a jail jumpsuit and shackles on her arms, supportive Mennonites sang hymns outside the courtroom, according to the Daily Journal. “This is now me telling you directly … and I’m ordering you to answer the questions,”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), in an interview with CBS Miami, was asked if he believed Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old behind the shooting in a Florida high school that left 17 dead, should rececive the death penalty. Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. BONUS CLIP: In our interview, @marcorubio says he believes Nikolas Cruz should be executed.This portion of the interview didn't make Facing South Florida coming up at 11:30 am on @CBSMiami pic.twitter.com/qXK1z6VHW7— Jim DeFede (@DeFede) February 18, 2018 "The answer is yes," Rubio said, but added that in general he has concerns about the death...

. - In a historic vote, the Washington State Senate on Wednesday repealed the death penalty. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were optimistic 2018 could bring the end of Washington’s death penalty, following changes in senate leadership and years of stalled attempts in the state Legislature. Under earlier Washington state law, individuals found guilty of aggravated first-degree murder could be put to death by hanging or lethal injection. Washington’s death penalty has been seldom used in recent years. In 2014, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee placed a moratorium on capital punishment, suspending the practice for as long as he’s...

A former Dallas accountant condemned for fatally shooting his two young daughters while their mother listened helplessly on the phone was put to death Thursday night in Texas. John David Battaglia was executed for the May 2001 killings of his 9-year-old daughter, Faith, and her 6-year-old sister, Liberty. Battaglia and his wife had separated, and he shot the girls at his Dallas apartment during a scheduled visit... Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, the inmate replied: "No," then changed his mind. "Well, hi, Mary Jean," he said, looking and smiling at his ex-wife. "I'll see y'all...

Not all that long ago, conservatives, including and especially conservative intellectuals, argued vigorously in favor of the death penalty. However, along with other several other moral-cultural issues in which they once took an interest, issues like abortion, euthanasia, and “gay marriage,” to note but a few, the topic of the death penalty is one in which contemporary conservatives appear to have little interest. This is just one of the many crucial respects in which the conservative movement has gone off the rails, for a society that abolishes the death penalty is a less just society for doing so. Thought it...

An American citizen detained overseas by the U.S. military has asked the American Civil Liberties Union to sue the Trump administration for holding him as an enemy combatant. The unidentified man spoke with ACLU attorneys this week and said they could challenge his detention in federal court, the ACLU wrote in a court filing entered Friday. “The Trump administration illegally denied an American his rights to access a lawyer and a court for nearly four months, but those efforts have finally failed,” said ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz. “Now that our client has secured the judicial review that the government attempted...