Photo: Pope Benedict XVI blesses her personal Rosary. Source: REUTERS/Max Rossi (VATICAN)
Original Post:
The Philippines Government decided to abolish the death penalty last Wednesday. AsiaNews reported Bishop Pedro Arrigo, chairman of the Episcopal Commission of Prison and Pastoral Care, said: "It is very important that both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved separate bills to abolish the imposition of the 1994 death penalty law." According to the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care, around 124 countries have stopped executions. Though, it is not a mortal sin to excommunicate a criminal, nor even a sin at all.
Reflection:
"Even in the case of the death penalty, the State does not dispose of the individual’s right to life. Rather public authority limits itself to depriving the offender of the good of life in expiation for his guilt, after he, through his crime, deprived himself of his own right to life" (Pope Pius XII, Address to the First International Congress of Histopathology of the Nervous System, 14 September 1952, XIV, 328)
3 comment(s):
That is great. I live in Canada and we don't have a death penalty. I am proud to say that.
As horrible as some crimes are I still can't agree with killing someone else.
I hope more countries follow the same path. Wikipedia has a map of all countries and there current status on the death penalty:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Death_Penalty_World_Map.png
As their article on Capital Punishment states, "The Catholic Church holds that the death penalty is no longer necessary if it can be replaced by incarceration."
John 8:7,10-11
"Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her...Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more."
"While the Church exhorts civil authorities to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to have recourse to capital punishment." - Pope Benedict XVI
"Whosoever strikes a man, so that he dies, shall surely be put to death" - Exodus 21:12
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