Pura Excerpts from the . e
The Gospel of Life \t
By Pope John Paul II é
\ ( f http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ENGO141/_PP.HTM 6 (e)
BGs wx
~
On this matter [the death penalty] there is a growing tendency, both in the
Church and in civil society, to demand that it be applied in a very limited way or
even that it be abolished completely. The problem must be viewed in the context of
a system of penal justice ever more in line with human dignity and thus, in the end,
with God's plan for man and society.
The primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is “to redress the
disorder caused by the offence”. Public authority must redress the violation of
personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for
the crime, as a condition for the offender to regain the exercise of his or her
freedom. In this way authority also fulfills the purpose of defending public order and
ensuring people's safety, while at the same time offering the offender an incentive
and help to change his or her behavior and be rehabilitated.
It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, 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. Today however,
as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such
cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent.
In any event, the principle set forth in the new Catechism of the Catholic Church
remains valid: “If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an
aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority
must limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete
conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the
human person”.
Excerpts from the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Second Edition, 1997
http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt2art5.shtml
2266 The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's
rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of
safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and the
duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment
has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense. When it
is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation.
Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people's
safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the
correction of the guilty party. [Luke 23:4-43]
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
with 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 definitively 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 non-existent.” '[John Paul II,
Evangelium vitae 56.]
