Pope Francis clarifies Archbishop Chaput’s confusion

Religion News Service ^ | October 24, 2014 | Mark Silk

[ebb tide]

Yesterday, Pope Francis came out against the death penalty about as strongly as a pope can come out against anything. In a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law, he pretty much declared a crusade:

“All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment,” he said. “Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.”

Let’s leave aside the public policy quibble that in America nothing has done more to reduce the number of death penalties handed out by juries than the life-without-parole sentencing option. What His Holiness has done is definitively reject the assertion of former Denver and current Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput when he told Colorado GOP gubernatorial candidate and staunch Catholic Bob Beauprez that it wasn’t against their religion to also be a staunch death penalty advocate.

At least that’s what Beauprez said a few weeks ago when asked about his support for the death penalty in a debate with his Democratic opponent, Gov. John Hickenlooper. According to Beauprez:

He said, “Bob, you pray on it, sleep on it, reach the conclusion that is right for your soul.” And he said, “I’ll back you up, because church doctrine is not anti­–death penalty.” I want to be very clear about that.

When reporters tried to check on the quote, Chaput’s spokeman said the archbishop wouldn’t comment on a private conversation between himself and the candidate.

Now, as you may have noticed, Chaput gave a speech the other day expressing dismay at the Vatican’s recent synod on the family for sowing confusion among the faithful. “I was very disturbed by what happened,” he said. “I think confusion is of the devil, and I think the public image that came across was one of confusion.”

So far as I am concerned, Candidate Beauprez is entitled to support the death penalty even though his church doesn’t. But thanks to him, the public image that’s come across is of a church that both opposes and does not oppose the death penalty.

The Bishop of Rome has spoken. It’s of the devil for the Archbishop of Philadelphia not to clear up the confusion that’s been sown.

[ebb tide]

Now, as you may have noticed, Chaput gave a speech the other day expressing dismay at the Vatican’s recent synod on the family for sowing confusion among the faithful. “I was very disturbed by what happened,” he said. “I think confusion is of the devil, and I think the public image that came across was one of confusion.”

[ebb tide]

Ping

[BlatherNaut]

And this, I connect with life imprisonment,” he said. “Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.”

The types of crimes that result in sentences of life without parole are so heinous that the perps have given notice to society that the they are not fit to be among us.

How about having sympathy for victims? And how about protecting society from evildoers?

[cherry]

leave to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s....

[ConorMacNessa]

Could he please express the same compassion for the innocent babies being slaughtered on a quotidian basis in the abattoirs of planned Parenthood and other Death Merchants?


"Dia shábháil ar fad anseo!"

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[cherry]

I suppose we're just supposed to lay down and let the animals torture us and kill us....

punishment is a deterrent and the DP the ultimate one.....

I could do away with the DP if the shyster lawyers would let life in prison without parole actually mean that....

meanwhile, we peasants can't have guns because we aren't allowed to defend ourselves...

[Last Dakotan]

I have my priorities.

I'll worry be about the guilty being put to death after I worry about the innocent.

[boatbums]

If the death penalty was just some "rule" people invented, it might be okay to change it, but it was GOD who set that up - He said repeatedly:

Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.

Exodus 21:12
"Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.

Leviticus 24:17-22
"Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.’

Numbers 35:33
"'Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

Deuteronomy 5:17
"You shall not murder.

[boatbums]

AMEN!!!

[Steelfish]

All well and good.

“Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”

“Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.”

And Christ gave us :

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.…

[fidelis]

With all due respect to the current Holy Father, the constant teaching of the Church has been (and is) that the state does have a right to impose the death penalty. Pope Francis is entitled to his opinion, but it doesn't change the teaching of the Church. If he were to make an ex cathedra statement proclaiming that states have no right or responsibility in that regard, that would be something. But he won't because he can't. St. Pope John Paul had similar personal views, but he never presumed to impose his views on the Church. The Scriptures are clear and Catholic teaching does not change. A Pope's particular opinions can be listened to with due respect, but they aren't binding on anyone.

[boatbums]

Are you saying Jesus negated the commands of Almighty God?

God put His rule into place about murder and the penalty for it LONG before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses. I've seen nothing that Jesus said that nullifies that. Of course, there IS a difference between the personal and societal. If someone slaps me, Jesus said to turn the other cheek, to not answer evil for evil, to forgive and to love one another as HE loves us. Society, on the other hand, has been given those who are in authority to ensure justice:

Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will you then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and you shall have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him that does evil. Why you must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay you tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually on this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:1-7)

[Steelfish]

Jesus is in the Trinitarian God we worship. The Old Testament must be read in the context of repentance and God’s mercy as preached by Jesus. This is what happened to St. Paul.

[Last Dakotan]

Any word from the current Archbishop of Denver?

[BlessedBeGod]

It’s of the devil for the Archbishop of Philadelphia not to clear up the confusion that’s been sown.

It's not Archbishop Chaput's responsibility to clear up confusion that Francis had created.

[NKP_Vet]

“All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms”

Ground control to Pope Francis. I follow the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that Catholics can have differing opinions on the Death Penalty and the Death Penalty is not forbidden by the Catholic Church. Maybe Pope Francis should try reading the Catechism on the use of the Death Penalty and a whole slew of subjects he’s not familiar with! His opinion is no better than mine and we differ!

[Arthur McGowan]

Others on this thread have repeated the truth that the Catholic Church does not categorically condemn the death penalty.

It should be borne in mind that in many countries—Muslim countries above all—that the death penalty is imposed with reckless abandon. And this is to be condemned.

This Pope is one that we cannot look to for accurate statements of Catholic teaching.

The best course of action for the individual is to pray for the Pope, pray for the Church, and wait until the Cardinals choose a Pope who is qualified for the job.

[John O]

Which goes to show once again that this pope is not Christian and oddly enough, not Catholic. He is becoming the anti-pope.

[plangent]

From Matthew 18:6 our Lord proclaimed

“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

Let not what Christ has sanctioned be overturned by the corruptness of man.

[trebb]

The types of crimes that result in sentences of life without parole are so heinous that the perps have given notice to society that the they are not fit to be among us. How about having sympathy for victims? And how about protecting society from evildoers?

Agree, but can also see the religious/Christian side of it. In the Bible, Jonah tried to run from Nineveh because he deemed the people to be too vile to merit being saved - God had other plans as He is the One who decides such things. In the Catholic doctrine (according to a Nun teacher when I was younger, if one had a choiuce that would result in the death of a child or of an adult, one should take the action which spared the adult - the reason being that the child would go to Heaven as there had not been time to make the decision of whether or not to accept Christ, while you could not be sure the adult had yet made the decision. IOW, err on the side of giving a soul as much chance as possible to be redeemed, no matter how vile you consider them to be. Just as many who assert they are strict constitutionalists would have us do un-constitutional things because "they make sense", many religious/Christian folks use their own compass vs. God's compass.