I have two cousins who are prison guards. One of them had to be removed from contact with the prisoners because a contract had been put out on him. Modern prisons do nothing to adequately protect the guards and other prison staff, let alone other prisoners, who also have the right to life.
A pope can't change doctrine. He can try, but he can't succeed. It is what it is, and it will always remain so, no matter how long he pounds his fist or stamps his feet or curses those who don't give him the adoration he desires.
What a pope can do (and ought to do) is to help us understand how to apply the doctrine to today's particular circumstances. But the charism of infallibility does not extend to his prudential judgments such as this. We ought to listen carefully to a pope when he does this, but we are not bound to obey him.
The fact that Bergoglio has changed the Catechism of the Catholic Church in this manner, which is clearly at odds with previous infallible teaching, means one or both of two things:
Just adding to your refreshing comments...
Lifetime imprisonment means the victims must support him for the rest of his life, adding one injustice to another. Oppression of widows and orphans is a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance.
It is righteous to punish evildoers. It reestablishes the just condition, without which peace and virtue are nearly impossible.
Newsflash: The capital offenders know ahead of time what human acts are not acceptable to Christian Civilization, they both lose their human dignity and draw just punishment upon themselves by crossing that red line.
In case you don't already have it, I'm providing a link to retired Corpus Christi TX Archbishop Rene Gracida's blog, Abyssus Abyssum Invocat
In it he maked the case that the 2013 conclave which elected Pope Francis was invalid. He is asking the 2013 cardinals (not including the ones appointed by Francis) to reconvene and elect a valid pope.
Strange times we're living in.
Typo: “Makes”, not “maked.”