I have a simple question I'd like to ask anyone who agrees with Francis in trying to change the immemorial Magisterium of the Church on the death penalty.
I received the following as a comment on my post Does Pope Francis Think the Death Penalty is Intrinsically Evil? in the Musings of an Old Curmudgeon Facebook group.Comment:
I don't know. I think the death penalty is intrinsically evil. I think the real punishment for those who fail to live within the guidelines of a decent society and who commit grievous crimes against others is to send them into an exile in an extremely isolated harsh environment far away from any other humans (like the tundra), with the expectation, that IF they survive that experience, then possibly they could re-enter society. Let them be put into God's hands alive and see if He chooses to keep them that way.
My response:
Then you have to believe that God ordered something intrinsically evil. If that's the case, I have no interest in following a God who orders evil. You can believe that it should never be used, but to say it is intrinsically evil, as Francis has done, is to call God a liar and to say that Holy Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and all his predecessors, including John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and those who allowed executions in the Papal States (it was legal in the Papal States until they were dissolved and legal in Vatican City, tho' never used, from 1929 until Paul VI abolished it in 1969) had no idea what the Church taught. I'm not buying what Francis is selling.Edited to add-So you believe the death penalty should be replaced by cruel and unusual torture? Because that's exactly what you're suggesting. To replace a certain death date, with the opportunity to repent, confess and die in a state of grace, with a situation that in most people would lead to the sin of despair and death in mortal sin? That's almost as evil as God ordering something that is 'intrinsically evil'.
My question for those who agree with him is simple. Do you actually believe God ordered evil and that the Church was wrong until Francis came along and set the record straight?
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Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the Vicar of Christ (I know he's a material heretic and a Protector of Perverts, and I definitely want him gone yesterday! However, he is Pope, and I pray for him every day.), the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.