1. The Holy Father Pope Francis, in his Discourse on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of the Apostolic Constitution Fidei depositum, by which John Paul II promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, asked that the teaching on the death penalty be reformulated so as to better reflect the development of the doctrine on this point that has taken place in recent times.[1] This development centers principally on the clearer awareness of the Church for the respect due to every human life. Along this line, John Paul II affirmed: "Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this."[2]
2. It is in the same light that one should understand the attitude towards the death penalty that is expressed ever more widely in the teaching of pastors and in the sensibility of the people of God. If, in fact, the political and social situation of the past made the death penalty an acceptable means for the protection of the common good, today the increasing understanding that the dignity of a person is not lost even after committing the most serious crimes, the deepened understanding of the significance of penal sanctions applied by the State, and the development of more efficacious detention systems that guarantee the due protection of citizens have given rise to a new awareness that recognizes the inadmissibility of the death penalty and, therefore, calling for its abolition.
3. In this development, the teaching of the Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae of John Paul II is of great importance. The Holy Father enumerated among the signs of hope for a new culture of life "a growing public opposition to the death penalty, even when such a penalty is seen as a kind of 'legitimate defense' on the part of society. Modern society in fact has the means of effectively suppressing crime by rendering criminals harmless without definitively denying them the chance to reform."[3] The teaching of Evangelium vitae was then included in the editio typica of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In it, the death penalty is not presented as a proportionate penalty for the gravity of the crime, but it can be justified if it is "the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor," even if in reality "cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender today are very rare, if not practically non-existent" (n. 2267).
4. John Paul II also intervened on other occasions against the death penalty, appealing both to respect for the dignity of the person as well as to the means that today's society possesses to defend itself from criminals. Thus, in the Christmas Message of 1998, he wished "the world the consensus concerning the need for urgent and adequate measures ... to end the death penalty."[4] The following month in the United States, he repeated, "A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary."[5]
5. The motivation to be committed to the abolition of the death penalty was continued with the subsequent Pontiffs. Benedict XVI recalled "the attention of society's leaders to the need to make every effort to eliminate the death penalty."[6] He later wished a group of the faithful that "your deliberations will encourage the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty and to continue the substantive progress made in conforming penal law both to the human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order."[7]
6. In this same prospective, Pope Francis has reaffirmed that "today capital punishment is unacceptable, however serious the condemned's crime may have been.
Click here to read the entire Letter to the Bishops: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2018/08/02/180802b.html