Posted on 05/24/2022 4:30:49 PM PDT by ebb tide
https://www.usccb.org/resources/churchs-anti-death-penalty-position
https://uscatholic.org/articles/202104/what-does-the-church-teach-about-the-death-penalty/
“With change in the Catechism in 2018 and Pope Francis’s binding teachings in Fratelli Tutti in 2020, the faithful are today morally obliged to oppose the death penalty, may not promote or support executions, and may not in good conscience endorse laws that allow capital punishment.”
All liberal sources, with a political agenda. None of these is authoritative. If Francis had been able to say immoral, he would have. He didn’t because he couldn’t, because it isn’t.
Did you even read the USCCB link you sent me?
“In Catholic teaching the state has the recourse to impose the death penalty upon criminals convicted of heinous crimes if this ultimate sanction is the only available means to protect society from a grave threat to human life.”
Got anything else?
Let me explain to you how it works. Newspapers and magazines do not have authority to promulgate or interpret Catholic teaching. What they have to say is no more than their website opinion. The USCCB is not an official teaching body. It issues statements that might be reliable and might not. Their statements are not binding on any Catholic. Only an ordinary (the bishop of a particular place) has this authority. The ordinary of San Francisco (Cordilione) has this power in his own diocese only. This is why his ruling has no legal force in Washington DC. The pope has worldwide jurisdiction, but only in matters pertaining to salvation. If pope Francis has an opinion about climate change or gun control, Catholics are free to accept or ignore it. He has no God given competence in these areas. If a pope were to pronounce solemnly, to the whole world, speaking as the successor of Peter and intending to bind all Catholics, that capital punishment is immoral, we would be bound to submit. But he has not said this. He can’t say this.
You have an irrational loathing for the Catholic Church. Give it up.
The Catholic Church affirmed the death penalty as biblical until 2 years ago when Francis arbitrarily decided they didn’t any more.
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