[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 13



GLOBAL:

The death of capital punishment


Some 2,000 years ago on the 1st Good Friday, in response to public
pressure the Roman Empire executed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On
that day Jesus suffered the pain of the world's sins --- including the sin
of capital punishment.

The barbaric execution of Jesus should have inspired an end to any
Christian support for the death penalty. And actually it did, at least for
the Catholic Church's 1st 300 years. During that era, the earliest
disciples of Christ committed themselves to absolute nonviolence --- no
abortion, no war, no capital punishment.

Unfortunately, when Christianity became legalized, many began to relax the
prohibition against violence --- including capital punishment. It even
came to the point that during the Middle Ages some people convicted of
teaching heresy were condemned to death by certain church officials.

The church's efforts to end capital punishment are rooted in the God-given
dignity of every human being --- even murderers.

And still to this day, countless Catholics believe in the use of the death
penalty, even though Pope John Paul II clearly called for its abolition.

In his prophetic encyclical, "The Gospel of Life," he taught that capital
punishment should only be used when it is impossible to defend society in
any other way. And he added this key sentence: "Today, however, as a
result of steady improvement in the organization of the penal system, such
cases are very rare if not practically nonexistent."

Interestingly, before Benedict XVI was elected pope, as head of the
Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he said, John Paul's
"reservations about the death penalty are even stronger than those already
present in the catechism and are a real development."

The future pope added that the next edition of the "Catechism of the
Catholic Church" would need to be revised to reflect John Paul's more
powerful teaching against capital punishment. And, indeed, the second
edition echoes John Paul's firm call for society to move beyond the death
penalty.

The church's efforts to end capital punishment are rooted in the God-given
dignity of every human being --- even murderers.

Furthermore, our faith calls us to promote the common good of all. But the
good of society is not served when our laws teach that violence is wrong
sometimes --- but not other times. This inconsistency makes no sense and
is a tremendous obstacle to building a world based on Christ-like love.

I remember a Catholic News Service photo of a Marianist brother
demonstrating in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building. On his shirt
was the message: Why do we kill people who kill people, to show that
killing people is wrong?

Study after study confirms that capital punishment is not a deterrent to
murder. For instance, according to Amnesty International, the murder rate
in Canada has dropped by 40 % since the death penalty was abolished in
that country.

And then there is always the chance that an innocent person will be put to
death. Since 1972 more than 120 people in U.S. prisons have been
exonerated from death row.

Over 88 countries --- including every nation in Europe --- have completely
abolished the death penalty. However, countries that our government has
condemned, such as Iran, Syria, North Korea and Sudan, continue -- like
the United States --- to execute human beings.

Jesus' life did not end with his execution on Calvary. Resurrection had
the final word. In the spirit of the risen Christ, let us rise from all
that dehumanizes us --- including capital punishment.

(source: Tony Magliano is a pastoral associate at the Shrine of the Little
Flower Parish in Baltimore; The Tidings)