I refuse to begin with “Well… there is no simple answer”. I refuse, because I am leaving it open to the possibility that perhaps there is a simple answer to the question of Capital Punishment.
It’s a topic I’ve broached on social media. I also posted a video clip here on damiangoddard.com not long ago, of a Saint of the Church buoying his executioner moments before death was delivered by way of a gruesome hack to the neck.
And as the times call for such subject matter to be dispensed and dialogued, what with all the Gosnell-ing that continues to transpire in our culture unabated, the Holy Father has chimed in. Er, chimed in by way of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. And for the record, Pope Francis opposes the death penalty.
Not only does the Vicar of Christ oppose it, he is lobbying for its abolition.
In the statement, penned and signed by Bertone, the pope proclaims the urgency to “remember and affirm the need for universal recognition and respect for the inalienable dignity of human life.”
Dignity. What is “dignity”? And where does it play in the meting of justice?
In its temporal vestiture, there is universal acceptance of the notion that every human being has worth. But it’s also universally accepted that we all must shed this mortal coil, eventually. Some, earlier than others. And still some, earlier than others, and by their own doing.
Here. Let me borrow from a homily that has been posted on the internet –
“Man just doesn’t have a natural dignity based upon his humanity, but also a supernatural dignity based upon his immortal soul.”
And ain’t that the truth? Could it be that in this discussion of the death penalty, we are too caught up in the “here and now” of this life, and not the “then and forever” of the next? After all, look at how most Christians view the afterlife of the aborted child as having secured, de facto, a place in Heaven. What I find tragic about abortion is not so much the loss of life in this world, as – perhaps – the “loss” of that soul to Limbo. (I would ask that you research “Limbo” before firing off that hate-mail. Limbo ain’t all that bad, hence “loss” in quotations. But then, and again, we’re not made for “all that bad”, right?)
So Pope Francis opposes the death penalty.
Well, for the record, Pope Sixtus V did not oppose it.
As a matter of fact, the former Felice Peretti di Montalto was known to have stated, “while I live, every criminal must die.”
Harsh? Meh.
Whereas I submitted off the hop that perhaps there is a simple answer to the question of capital punishment, it seems that the Papacy some 500 years ago was crystal-clear on the issue. And let it be known that Pope Sixtus V met the issues of both Capital Punishment and Abortion head on. You could say that since we’re in the age of Kathlyk politicians championing abortion as some kind of “sacred cow”, it would behoove us to re-visit another papal document.
Sixtus V didn’t hold back in his Apostolic Constitution “Effraenatam”. Try this on for size –
“Who will not abhor the cruelty and unrestrained debauchery of impious men who have arrived into such a state of mind that they procure poisons in order to extinguish the conceived fetuses within the viscera, and pour them out, trying to provoke by a nefarious crime a violent and untimely death and killing of their progeny.”
– Papal Bull “Effraenatam”
November 29th, 1588
There was no skirting the issue back then. And there really shouldn’t be any skirting today. But that is not where we find ourselves. Sadly.
While there are those who might be quick to point to Blessed John Paul II’s admonishing of the death penalty, it would be best served to re-investigate his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, and particularly the point where he writes “the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender, except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society.”
It must be made clear that anyone in their right mind would support the case of “absolute necessity”. We’re not talking about swiping a toothbrush from a Walmart. What we’re talking about here is “the cruelty and unrestrained debauchery of impious men”.
Pope Sixtus V was speaking specifically of JPII’s defense of society. Sixtus was a tireless pope who did wonderful work for the church. Mob bosses were executed under his watch. He was intent on rooting out the burgeoning Protestant revolt. He was noted for developing the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on contraception and abortion. And that was almost 500 years ago. My, how things have changed. Things, except Pope Sixtus V’s cause for sainthood.
If you’re still stuck on that whole “answer for Capital Punishment” thing, at least consider this; something tells me Kermit Gosnell isn’t scrambling to confess his sins to an ordained Catholic priest. I just pray he is burdened with that particular urgency, before death sneaks up on him… and it’s too late.
I have to be open to that possibility.