Catholic Church Death Penalty

DOES THE CBCP CONTRADICT THE CCC? BY: Admin Coco

Full Question from anonymous:

Hello, Admin Coco, I have a question my question is about the Death Penalty why the CBCP is Anti-Death Penalty? Which I think it is not compatible with the teaching of the Church like in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2267 it says there that Death Penalty is permitted. So my question is did cbcp contradicts the teaching of the Church?

Answer: First, let us read the full text of CCC paragraph 2267:

Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm – without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself – the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.”

If you notice the CCC statement is tentative Ex. “IF this is the ONLY possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.”

In the second paragraph is very clear: “if other means are sufficient, the State should limit itself to it as it is “more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.”

In the last paragraph said: “The cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity very rare, if not practically nonexistent.”

The CBCP is not contradicting the CCC. CBCP only states that the Death Penalty is not only the way of effectively defending people’s lives (1st Paragraph); other ways of punishment are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person (2nd paragraph); and there is no absolute necessity of taking a criminal’s life as the state can effectively render him incapable of doing further harm by means other than death penalty (3rd paragraph).

In short: In our modern world, as it now stands, the death penalty is unnecessary in 99.9999% of cases because we have other means to deal with criminals while keeping the general population safe.

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Safeguards have been created to ensure the orthodoxy of the contents of our website. If, despite strictly adhering to the dogmas and magisterial authority of the Church, errors have been pointed out and proven, I will humbly submit to the authority of the Church.

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