In pronouncing the death penalty “contrary to the Gospel,” Francis appears to be saying something that none of his predecessors ever said.
Finish reading: On the death penalty, Francis is going where no pope has gone before – The Boston Globe
HWH Comment: Jeff Jacoby may be missing the point. The pope isn’t saying that a killer’s life is more important than the life of the one the killer killed. The pope is saying that the act of killing is wrong – no matter who is doing it and why. The death penalty is not a tool of anything except cold-blooded revenge carried out on behalf of the one killed by supposedly disinterested parties (people other than the family of the victim). A decent society would ban the state-sponsored killing of an individual to avenge the families of victims. The state should not be in the business of killing anybody for the purpose of punishment. There is no moral equivalency between committing a murder against an innocent and the state committing a murder to avenge that death. Both are wrong. Neither is justified – neither the action nor the reaction. Setting the example of civility, especially by the state, is paramount to furthering the goal of global civilization. Continuing the cycle of killing does not move advance that noble cause.
It doesn’t matter if a killer is remorseful or not. It is not our job nor our responsibility to act as the killer acted. That makes us equally guilty.
Pope Francis is correct in his direction to eradicate state-sponsored killing as punishment for crimes committed.
