The death penalty

The Church once allowed it. What changed?

The Church’s judgment of it changed. Recourse to the death penalty after a fair trial “was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good”. Since 2018 the Catechism teaches, “in the light of the Gospel”, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, and that the Church works “with determination for its abolition worldwide”. CCC 2267; Rescript on the New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty 2267

It gives three reasons: an awareness “that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes”; a new understanding of what penalties imposed by the state are for; and “more effective systems of detention”, which protect citizens without depriving the guilty “of the possibility of redemption”. CCC 2267

The change came in steps. The teaching of John Paul II’s _Evangelium Vitae_ went into the Catechism’s typical edition, which allowed the penalty only as “the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor”, adding that such cases “are very rare, if not practically non-existent”. Letter to the Bishops Regarding the New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty 3

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith calls the 2018 text “an authentic development of doctrine that is not in contradiction with the prior teachings of the Magisterium”: those teachings answered to a time when penalties were understood differently and “it was more difficult to guarantee that the criminal could not repeat his crime”. Letter to the Bishops Regarding the New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty 8 What stands is the state’s “right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime”. CCC 2266

The older position was never unanimous. Lactantius held “that it is always unlawful to put a man to death”, Nicholas I urged sparing “all the guilty as well”, and Augustine asked a judge not to execute the murderers of two priests. Fratelli Tutti 265 Francis grounds the change in John Paul II’s words, “not even a murderer loses his personal dignity”, Letter to the Bishops Regarding the New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty 1; Fratelli Tutti 269 and in 2024 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said the death penalty violates “the inalienable dignity of every person, regardless of the circumstances”. Dignitas Infinita 34

Henryk Siemiradzki, Christ and the Sinner, 1873. State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg.

Jn 8:7

2266

The State's effort to contain the spread of behaviors injurious to human rights and the fundamental rules of civil coexistence corresponds to the requirement of watching over the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime. the primary scope of the penalty is to redress the disorder caused by the offense. When his punishment is voluntarily accepted by the offender, it takes on the value of expiation. Moreover, punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender. Cf. Lk 23:40-43.

2267

Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good. Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption. Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, [Francis, Address to Participants in the Meeting organized by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, 11 October 2017] and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.

Dignitas Infinita Apr 2, 2024
Fratelli Tutti Oct 3, 2020
Letter to the Bishops Regarding the New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty Aug 1, 2018
Rescript on the New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty Aug 1, 2018

From the Catechism

From the Magisterium