TOUGH WORDS AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY

Tuscan Bishops Say It Has "Vengeful Character"

FLORENCE, Italy, NOV. 24, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- In a strongly worded document against the death penalty, Tuscan bishops label as "unacceptable, both on the moral as well as the juridical plain" arguments in favor of capital punishment.

On Nov. 30, 1786, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany abolished the death penalty. Two centuries later, the region's leaders decided to turn the anniversary into a "Festival of Tuscany."

The 19 signatories of the present document -- 18 bishops, plus the abbot of Monte Oliveto Maggiore -- noted that there are Christians who declare themselves in favor of the death penalty. "A Christian," the bishops wrote, "no matter how offended he might be, can never ask for the death of someone who has killed."

Instead, the aggrieved party can "desire, and also request the public authorities for a just punishment of the one responsible for an offense; however, in order that it be truly just, such punishment must never violate the essential rights of the offender, who continues to be a human person and who, in any case, has the right to survive, with the hope of a humanly acceptable future in which he is able to repair, at least in part, the evil committed."

The death penalty has a "vengeful character," is the "only irreversible punishment, and in no way seems justifiable," the document states. "It is not an element of dissuasion," it adds; on the contrary, "some comparative studies reveal that such punishment seems to be an incitement to murder, insofar as a murderous state can justify a private murder."

The Tuscan bishops go further, saying, "The death penalty is not in itself a punishment: Instead, what is a punishment is the anguished time in which the alleged offender awaits execution and also the often macabre mise-en-scène that characterizes it; few other realities are so inhuman and dehumanizing both for the one suffering them as well as those present when they happen."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in No. 2267, states: "The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor. ... Today, in fact, ... the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity 'are very rare, if not practically non-existent.'" The last phrase is taken from John Paul II's encyclical Evangelium Vitae, No. 56.

The Tuscan bishops acknowledge that "in past centuries the Church was often found exercising temporal power, allowing itself to be involved in a social and juridical logic that at times was contrary to the letter and spirit of the Gospel."

"Because of this," their document concludes, "in the course of the Jubilee, the Holy Father has solemnly asked for forgiveness, and we, the bishops of Tuscany, wish to associate ourselves with this petition for pardon, in the hope that the next millennium will witness new objectives for increasingly authentic human coexistence."

Click here to share this news story with a friend.

Terms of Use    Privacy Policy