Holy Father Pope Francis reiterates: The Death Penalty is ‘inadmissible’

Last week the Sunday Times published a letter to the Editor addressed to Don Manu by a reader B. Joseph who took umbrage over the comments expressed in the Sunday Punch of July 15th with reference to the article titled “Execute them’ says the Archbishop, hang the lot says Bodu Bala Pope.’

In his letter, the writer claims the Archbishop never advocated the death penalty in toto. That is not disputed. For the Sunday Punch never stated he did. But only questioned the Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith’s advocacy of the death penalty when it came to hanging convicted drug traffickers sentenced to death by the courts and now in death row who still dealt in drugs within Welikada walls.

Especially when Archbishop’s own supreme overlord His Holiness Pope Francis had already declared the new catechism of the Holy See last year in October at the 25th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church at the Vatican whereat he declared unequivocally that:

“Capital punishment heavily wounds human dignity. And is an inhuman measure. It is, in itself, contrary to the Gospel, because a decision is voluntarily made to suppress a human life, which is always sacred in the eyes of the Creator and of whom, in the last analysis, only God can be the true judge and guarantor."

“The death penalty not only extinguishes a human life, it extinguishes the possibility that the person, recognizing his or her errors, will request forgiveness and begin a new life. In the past, when people did not see any other way for society to defend itself against serious crime and when "social maturity" was lacking, people accepted the death penalty as "a logical consequence of the application of justice."

"Let us take responsibility for the past and recognize" that use of the death penalty was "dictated by a mentality that was more legalistic than Christian," Pope Francis said. "Remaining neutral today when there is a new need to reaffirm personal dignity would make us even more guilty."

"The word of God," he said, "cannot be saved in mothballs as if it were an old blanket to protect against insects."

The Christian faith, he said, always has insisted on the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death. So, the church has a continuing obligation to speak out when it realizes something that was accepted in the past actually contradicts church teaching.

"Therefore, it is necessary to reiterate that, no matter how serious the crime committed, the death penalty is inadmissible, because it attacks the inviolability and dignity of the person,"

It was a statement that the Holy Father reiterated this Thursday and firmly to dispel all doubts as to the stance of the Catholic Church.

As the BBC reported this Thursday: “Pope Francis has changed the teachings of the Catholic faith to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances, the Vatican has said. The Catechism of the Church, which sums up the teachings, had previously stated that the death penalty could be used in some cases.

It now says it is "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person".

Last October, he had said the Church's policy on the death penalty was one area where teaching was not static and could change with modern concerns. The text of the catechism was first set by Pope John Paul II in October 1992. The teachings had earlier stated that the death penalty was "an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good".

However, the new text says there is "an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes".

It also argues that today's more effective detention methods protect citizens and "do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption”. The Church will now work with determination for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, a statement from the Holy See said.

As far as the writer B. Joseph’s view that humans have the right to play God and decide who amongst them are unworthy to live, perhaps the above statement declared His Holiness Pope François in October last year and restated and reaffirmed as the new catechism of the catholic theology may make him think again. Even as it should His Grace the Archbishop of Colombo.

Now let us hope and pray that if there had been lingering demons of doubt in Catholic minds still as to where the Catholic Church presently stood on the issue of the death penalty that the statement Pope Francis made last year and reaffirmed, reiterated and swore on the Holly Bible that the death penalty is

‘contrary to the Gospel, because a decision is voluntarily made to suppress a human life, which is always sacred in the eyes of the Creator and of whom, in the last analysis, only God can be the true judge and guarantor;

and that it is necessary to reiterate that, no matter how serious the crime committed, the death penalty is inadmissible, because it attacks the inviolability and dignity of the person;

Will serve to exorcise those lingering demons of doubt harbouring in Catholic hearts and minds and finally lay it to rest. Riven by the stake the Holy Father plunged into the phantom, not once but twice. Amen. So be it.