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The pope is correct in his thinking here. Although there are many examples of people being condemned to death and being executed in the Bible, let's look at the first reported murder, the case Cain versus Able. The motive for this killing was simple jealousy and Cain slew his brother because he was jealous because God did not accept his sacrifice. God of course knew what Cain had done. Did He apply the death penalty? Actually no he did not. He sent Cain off to exile.
The Bible says "Whoever sheds the blood of men shall his blood be shed for God made man in His image." The catechism says that the death penalty may be used if there is no other way to protect society from harm from the perpetrator. Today we have such a method, it is called "Life in prison without the possibility of parole." We can take the worst of the worst and keep them away from others until such time as God calls them home in order to answer for their crimes before His tribunal.
Maybe we are too concerned about the perpetrators here and are not considering the victims? Let's talk about them a bit. Very often it is claimed that the execution of the one that hurt their loved one brings closure. If you do a little bit of research you will find that, in America, the long time between conviction and the ultimate execution keeps the wound fresh red and raw in the victim's family. Then when the execution finally does occur there is no closure because many of the families realize that this second killing did not bring back their loved one.
What are Christians such as you and I supposed to do? Jesus is very clear on this. We are to love one another as ourselves and we are to include our enemies in this. We are to turn the other cheek. But since we are to love others as we love ourselves we are also allowed to deal a lethal blow to defend our lives against an aggressor. What I think we are being asked to do is to err on the side of mercy.
Let me tell you a personal story. My mother, Violet, was a wonderful woman. She had a hard life growing up during the depression. Her mother wasn't especially good to her during her childhood. She grew up, dropped out of high school and obtained work in a defense plant. After the war she met my father, married, and gave birth to me and my siblings. She was always looking for happiness to come into her from outside, she never learned that happiness comes from within. She ended up divorcing my father and she went to work for our family doctor. When he retired she continued working for the doctor that bought the practice. Part of her compensation package was that she was to receive free health care from them. This doctor apparently took this obligation with a grain of salt. She misdiagnosed a growth on my mothers skin and prescribed an ointment to fix it. It was not going away but she really could care less because she was not receiving any money for treating my mother. Mom was getting very concerned and she went to see her former employer who recognized it as what it was, cancer. She was immediately put into the hospital where she received the news that it would have to be removed. The surgery went well and afterward the follow up showed no return of the cancer. Then on the third follow up it was discovered that the cancer had indeed returned and had invaded her lungs and that her condition was terminal. She went to a surgeon who said she could buy herself more time if she had the tumors removed. She was scheduled for surgery and the doctor came to see us and gave us the good news that it had gone well and that she might have as much as a year or a year and a half to live. Three days post op she went into a coma and died. At the funeral a lady came up to me and offered condolences which I accepted. My younger sister came up to me and said that that was the doctor mom had worked for. I looked at this so called doctor and my heart filled with hate and rage. I never knew I could feel such negative emotions as I did at that minute. I nurtured those feelings over the next months. I also went into a deep and dark depression that lasted for six months! Then one day I realized that I was a Christian and Jesus was calling me to forgive. I did forgive this worthless excuse of a doctor, gave her an unconditional pardon and at that moment my depression lifted and I felt once again the warmth of God's love filling my heart. Don't get me wrong, I wound not cultivate a relationship with this doctor, I would not take her to lunch, or play Parcheesi with her, but I no longer wished her any harm and placed her under God's care.
Jesus knew that forgiving brings its own rewards and that is why he asks us to do not the impossible, but the very, very, very, difficult and forgive those that do harm to us.
What are my views on the death penalty? In general I am against it. I think there are some people whose offenses are so heinous that the death penalty has to be on the books to deal with them. I cannot imagine the world would be better off if we kept people like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, or others like them alive. But they are the exceptions to the rule.
The death penalty is fraught with the danger that an innocent person will be put to death. IF you are poor, black, living in Texas, or California, Alabama, or Florida you are likely to get the death penalty if you are found guilty of murder. In Texas there is was a ruling that a capital defendant is entitled to a lawyer but they don't have to be awake during the trial. This is true I swear it. Let's face it, once you are dead, you are dead even if ten minutes or ten years later DNA evidence proves that you are not guilty. And let's not forget if you execute the wrong person, the killer is still at large.
So I guess I for the most part agree with Pope Francis. Let's get rid of the death penalty. It's time to prove that we can be better that the people we jail. It really makes no sense to kill people to teach them not to kill. What do you think?
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