The death penalty and Catholic teaching

September 13, 2018
Peter J. Fatooh
San Francisco

Kudos to reader Joe Hallisy’s letter in Catholic San Francisco (“Justice and the death penalty,” Aug. 23). It seems to me that over the years, the church has varied its position regarding capital punishment. As a Catholic, I become torn by alternating stances of the church on this subject. Father Gerald Coleman’s thoughtful article (“The pope, capital punishment and Catholics,” Aug. 23) is as confusing as it is enlightening, though I tend to agree with Mr. Hallisy’s position that capital punishment has its place in society.

Father Coleman wrote in his article: “Historically, one of the rationales for the death penalty in Catholic teaching was to protect society. The state still has this obligation. The change in Catholic teaching (presently) does not take this away.” It seems to me that if the state permits capital punishment and the church “does not take this away” then we, as Catholics, do not have a moral problem if we endorse the state’s policy of capital punishment.

When people say to me that to be consistent with my faith neither abortion nor capital punishment is acceptable with the Catholic faith, I can only respond with this reasoning: An unborn baby is innocent of any taking of life as opposed to a convicted first-degree murderer.

Father Coleman’s article also notes that St. Thomas Aquinas, among other saints, theologians, and moralists, “justified the death penalty.” I don’t think reader Joe Hallisy and I mind being in the same thought community as St. Thomas Aquinas when it comes to capital punishment.
 

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