1. God, in His goodness have given man many opportunities to be saved. His Divine Revelation is His ordinary means by which man can be saved. And when man deviates from His way, God gives him chastisements, like illnesses, storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, wars….to set him back in the straight way. One of these is capital punishment.
The topic on Capital Punishment is, again, becoming a hot topic. Why? Because Pope Francis wants it abolished and some bishops agree with Pope Francis, like the Philippines Bishop’s Conference. On the other hand the President of the Philippines is in favour of it. And we published a post that the secular President was right while the Pope and the Bishops are wrong. Capital punishment has great spiritual benefits both for the criminal and the rest of the people.
The CBCP had just come out with a ‘Thou shall not kill’ movement. But God, Himself said, that capital punishment is the exception to that command.
2. Lets look at the details involved.
The first question we should answer is; ‘whether the Catholic Church allows Capital Punishment?’ The answer is ‘Yes.’ Since the beginning of Christianity up to Pope Benedict’s time, yes. Pope John Paul slightly toned it down but Pope Benedict restored it to its original purity of doctrine. Pope Francis publicly announced he wants it abolished. Is Pope Francis abolishing capital punishment as a personal belief or as a teaching of the Catholic Church?
If it is as a teaching of the Catholic Church, which it is, he cannot abolish it. As a Catholic he cannot abolish it based on personal belief because that would be a sin of infidelity. If it is a Catholic teaching, then as Pope, he must observe it and impose it in the Church. Even at this point, Pope Francis and, as far as I know, the Catholic Bishop’s conference of the Philippines are both wrong to forbid the state to do it. The fifth commandment has an exception. That exception is; ‘under certain conditions, the state may kill, like in a just war.’
If both Pope Francis and the CBCP are pursuing the abolition of capital punishment, they are committing another sin beside going against God’s command. They are, as bishops and Pope, proclaiming that the abolition of capital punishment is a Catholic Doctrine, which it is not. As Pope and as bishops they are giving the impression that what they are saying is Catholic doctrine; this is a deception.
The president of the CBCP is, also giving the impression that that decision is the unanimous decision of the Bishop’s conference; when in truth the rest of the bishops know nothing about it and had informed the president to keep quiet and stop annoying the newly elected President with publicity stunts. So there is a second deception in giving the impression that all the Bishops agree to the movement ‘thou shall not kill.’
3. Why do they do this?
For pure P.R. To receive a Nobel prize, to be popular, to appear as a defender of the human race rather than a defender of God’s teachings or just to please the Pope who hold the same error. It is staying in the natural level just like politicians. Their actions are clearly staged.
4. How do we know that a truth is a Catholic truth? Because God, Himself, said it in the Old Testament. It is repeated by Christ in the new Testament. It is, further, repeated as such by the Fathers of the Church. And all the Popes through all the centuries from St. Peter to Pope Benedict XVI had confirmed it. Truths cannot be changed.
But since Vatican II a group had been planning to, in fact, change the Church by changing her teachings. And the moment they took over they begun changing the rules on divorce, the rules on receiving Holy Communion, the meaning of transubstantiation, …..and now they want to abolish that great aid to repentance and salvation, Capital punishment.
Let see what God taught about it. In Genesis “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” St. Paul reminds us of the God-given right of the state to inflict capital punishment ‘the state does not bear the sword in vain but is the servant of God to execute His wrath on the wrongdoer.” St. Clement of Alexandria wrote; ” when one falls into any incurable evil….it will be for his good if he is put to death. The benefits for other people, St. Augustine wrote, is that ‘the living were struck with a salutary fear. And Jerome ends by saying; ‘he who slays cruel men is not cruel.’
St. Thomas of Aquinas, St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Alphonsus of Liguori explains its purpose which is retributive justice and deterrent for others. Pope Pius XII summarised the stand of the church; ‘it is reserved to the public authority to deprive the criminal of the benefit of life when already, by his crime, he has deprived himself of the right to live.’
It is not the state nor the church that deprive the criminal his life. It is the criminal, himself, who has deprived, himself, the right to continue living.
Pope Francis has, not only, contradicted Scriptures, the Fathers and the previous Popes, by saying erroneously that capital punishment is intrinsically immoral. He even created a commission to change the Catechism of the Catholic Church to forbid capital punishment. That would be going against Catholic teachings.
5. The Charity in Capital punishment.
All the teachings of the Catholic Church is based on Love of God and love of neighbour. Anyone who goes against this teaching does not love God and does not love his neighbour. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
A murderer has disobeyed God’s command. As such he deserves eternal condemnation in hell. Charity obliges us all to do something to prevent him from going to hell. The only thing that can help him is for him to repent.
To repent he must first know the grievousness of his sin. A murderer has killed someone with the image and likeness of God. That is very serious. He did not kill a cat. If the criminal kills a man and thinks he has just killed a cat, he will never repent because he does not know his sin. Look at the abortionist and the terrorist. They really think they are just disposing blobs and shooting cats. They will never repent. You must know your sin.
A sentence of death will be a very big help to make them think. Why are they going to execute me? What have I done? He alone can find out the reason. I have killed someone with the image of God. It is an affront to God, Himself. Death row, like a monastic cell will be the best ambiance for him to make the right conclusions.
Those abolishing capital punishment is depriving them of these last chance to repent. They will never repent roaming free in the city. Pope Francis and the bishops, in their wrong sense of mercy, want them to continue enjoying the world for a few years but suffer for all eternity in the fires of hell. Call that charity?
Realising they have killed someone in the image and likeness of God is difficult enough for Catholics, how much more for non-Catholics. Yet they still need to be sorry for their crime; which they will never do if released from prison. They still have to make reparation for their sin of murder. How do you make reparation for a life loss? Impossible. It has to be a life for a life. A thinking prisoner should see that his salvation is now impossible considering what he has done.
Seeing the enormity of his sin, sorry for having committed it, willing to pay life for life, he become willing to die as payment for the life he has taken. That is repentance. Whether he is executed or not becomes immaterial. He has repented and he can be free from the eternal fires of hell. This would not have happened if capital punishment is abolished.
If in spite of all these, if he still remains unrepentant, then the world would be a better place without him.
Capital punishment is an aid to repentance; just like monastic life, like religious life, like good parents, like the Church. They are all aids to salvation. Take off capital punishment you deprive criminals their last hope for salvation. And that is what the Pope and the Bishops want? They are not helping the good guys; and they are not helping the bad guys. Does the President of the country have to do their job considering how busy he is?
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