Read the Catechism in a Year Day 267 - Self-Defense and Capital Punishment The Fifth Commandment: You shall not kill. Why is it permissible to tolerate the killing of another human being in the case of legitimate self-defense? Someone who is actually attacking the lives of others may and must be stopped, if necessary by killing the attacker himself. Legitimate defense against aggression is not only a right; for someone who bears the responsibility for the lives of others it can even become a duty. Nevertheless, legitimate defense must not employ wrong, inappropriately harsh methods. Why is the Church opposed to capital punishment? The Church is committed to opposing the death penalty because it is “both cruel and unnecessary” (Pope John Paul II, St. Louis, January 27, 1999). Every legitimate State has in principle the right to punish crime appropriately. In Evangelium vitae (1995), the Pope does not say that the use of the death penalty is in every respect an unacceptable and illegitimate punishment. To take the life of a criminal is an extreme measure to which the State should resort only “in cases of absolute necessity”. This necessity arises when the only way to protect human society is by killing the convicted criminal. But such cases, says Pope John Paul II, “are very rare, if not practically non-existent”. (YOUCAT questions 380-381) Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (2263-2269)
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 13:24:52 +0000
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