The priest’s answer
Dearest,
- If we question Divine Revelation as to whether the death penalty is a mortal sin, the answer we get is obviously negative.
This does not mean that this is also the case today because we need to distinguish the context.
- In the Old Testament, God orders the death penalty many times and also determines its modalities.
For example: “The Lord said to Moses: “Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Make them wash their garments and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people. Set limits for the people all around the mountain, and tell them: Take care not to go up the mountain, or even to touch its base. If anyone touches the mountain, he must be put to death. No hand shall touch him; he must be stoned to death or killed with arrows. (Ex 19,11-13).
- The death penalty was also commanded by God for idolatry (“Whoever sacrifices to any god, except to the Lord alone, shall be doomed”, Ex 22,19), for blasphemy (“Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death. The whole community shall stone him. Alien and native alike must be put to death for blaspheming the Lord’s name”, Lev 24,16), for the profanation of the Sabbath (“Therefore, you must keep the sabbath as something sacred. Whoever desecrates it shall be put to death. If anyone does work on that day, he must be rooted out of his people” Ex 31,14), for sins against parents (“Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. A kidnapper, whether he sells his victim or still has him when caught, shall be put to death. Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death”, Ex 21, 15-17), for adultery and other sexual disorders (Lev 20, 10ff), for certain sins against one’s neighbour: “Whoever strikes a man a mortal blow must be put to death” (Ex 21,12).
- Can it be said that God has mortally sinned by commanding this?
It is blasphemous to think so.
- With the New Testament, things change.
Even if the Lord did not explicitly speak out against the death penalty, he nevertheless moves decisively towards its overcoming. Concerning the adulteress who was discovered in flagrante adultery and who, according to Jewish law, was to be cast to death, Jesus says: “let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone”.
- The Dutch Catechism of 1969, which drew the attention of the Holy See to some unclear statements, writes on this subject: ‘It cannot be claimed that Christ explicitly abolished war or the death penalty. Otherwise the Gospel would have recorded it. This does not mean, however, that war and the death penalty are necessarily Christian’.
And this is why Pope Francis explicitly repudiates the death penalty in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
It is a judgement that the Church can make, since it deals with social teaching and therefore concerns a subject that is in itself as changeable as that of the means to ensure the detention of offenders.
- Therefore, just as the Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent stated that “it is within the powers of justice to condemn a guilty person to death” (no. 328), so the Catechism of the Catholic Church published after the Second Vatican Council can say: ‘For a long time, recourse to the death penalty by legitimate authority, after a regular trial, was considered an adequate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, even if extreme, means of protecting the common good.
Today, there is a growing awareness that a person’s dignity is not lost even after committing very serious crimes. Furthermore, a new understanding of the sense of criminal sanctions by the State has spread.
Finally, more effective detention systems have been developed, which guarantee the rightful defence of citizens but, at the same time, do not permanently deprive the offender of the possibility of redemption.
Therefore, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that the death penalty is inadmissible because it attacks the inviolability and dignity of the person’ (CCC 2267).
- Your question can therefore be answered in various ways: from what God has said in Divine Revelation, from what the Church has taught over the centuries, and from what the Church teaches today.
Although different and seemingly contradictory, in reality the answers are all true because they are pronounced in different contexts.
To simply say that it is a mortal sin without making any distinction may at least give rise to legitimate misgivings.
I bless you, wish you well and remember you in prayer.
Father Angelo
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