Pope Francis’ Video Message for the Abolition of the Death Penalty

On August 31, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network released a video message about the pope’s prayer intention for the month of September, which focuses on abolishing the death penalty. The pope’s message is reproduced below in italics for convenience.

Each day, there is a growing “No” to the death penalty around the world. For the Church, this is a sign of hope.

From a legal point of view, it is not necessary. Society can effectively repress crime without definitively depriving the offenders of the possibility of redeeming themselves. Always, in every legal sentence, there must be a window of hope.

Capital punishment offers no justice to victims, but rather encourages revenge. And it prevents any possibility of undoing a possible miscarriage of justice.

Additionally, the death penalty is morally inadmissible, for it destroys the most important gift we have received: life. Let us not forget that, up to the very last moment, a person can convert and change. And in the light of the Gospel, the death penalty is unacceptable. The commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” refers to both the innocent and the guilty.

I, therefore, call on all people of good will to mobilize for the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world. Let us pray that the death penalty, which attacks the dignity of the human person, may be legally abolished in every country.

This video is not the pope’s first initiative against the death penalty. Junno Arocho Esteves, who captured the message of the video in an article published in the Catholic magazine America, notes that “In 2018, Pope Francis ordered a revision of the catechism’s paragraph on capital punishment to say that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person’ and to commit the church to working toward its abolition worldwide.”

As I discussed in a previous post, Francis strongly believes that God is infinitely merciful, as suggested by the title of his book The Name of God Is Mercy. In that book, he says:

“God forgives everyone, he offers new possibilities to everyone, he showers his mercy on everyone who asks for it. We are the ones who do not know how to forgive.”

It is therefore not surprising that the pope does not believe the death penalty has divine endorsement. In this post, I will examine the statements he makes in the video.

Each day, there is a growing “No” to the death penalty around the world. For the Church, this is a sign of hope.

The notion that the Church sees calls to abolish the death penalty as a “sign of hope” is a major change since the history of Christendom does not show a bias against the death penalty. It is true that the early Christians were often persecuted but were told to love their enemies and reject violence. But a change undoubtedly occurred when Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire. Christians found a way of blending religion with the power of the state, and in particular, they began to enforce their own version of the faith, using violence as necessary. Capital punishment, which is quite acceptable in the Old Testament, became a commonly used punishment. The idea of using military force to convert unbelieving populations assumes that those populations deserve death unless they accept the right beliefs. But even within a state, it was not uncommon to use the death penalty as punishment for wrong beliefs. In the Middle Ages and even later, Christians were apparently convinced they were serving God when they burned heretics and witches. The Reformation did not bring any noticeable change to that situation.

Catholic theologians defended the death penalty in writings going back to the 5^th century. For example, Pope Innocent I, in 405 AD, provided the following justification:

“It must be remembered that power was granted by God, and to avenge crime the sword was permitted; he who carries out this vengeance is God’s minister (Romans 13:1–4). What motive have we for condemning a practice that all hold to be permitted by God? We uphold, therefore, what has been observed until now, in order not to alter the discipline and so that we may not appear to act contrary to God’s authority.”

This statement obviously is a response to a debate in which the use of capital punishment by Christians was being questioned. The pope’s misinterpretation of Romans 13:1-4 has been the basis used by Christians to justify the authority of the state to use violence as necessary. Later, great theologians such as Augustine agreed. In Book 1, Chapter 21 of The City of God (426 AD), Augustine wrote:

“The same divine authority that forbids the killing of a human being establishes certain exceptions, as when God authorizes killing by a general law or when He gives an explicit commission to an individual for a limited time. The agent who executes the killing does not commit homicide; he is an instrument as is the sword with which he cuts. Therefore, it is in no way contrary to the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ to wage war at God’s bidding, or for the representatives of public authority to put criminals to death, according to the law, that is, the will of the most just reason.”

In the 13^th century, Thomas Aquinas agreed with his predecessors and provided a justification of the death penalty for the purpose of preserving society, arguing that “The life of certain pestiferous men is an impediment to the common good which is the concord of human society. Therefore, certain men must be removed by death from the society of men.”

Interestingly John Calvin, one of the leaders of Protestantism in the 16^th century, was very much in agreement with this thinking. In the Catholic Church, a serious debate about abolishing the death penalty did not begin until the 20^th century. In the 1990’s, Pope John Paul II introduced a change toward the use of the death penalty only if absolutely necessary. But it is Pope Benedict XVI who, in 2011, actually called for its abolition:

“Together with the Synod members, I draw the attention of society’s leaders to the need to make every effort to eliminate the death penalty and to reform the penal system in a way that ensures respect for the prisoners’ human dignity. Pastoral workers have the task of studying and recommending restorative justice as a means and a process for promoting reconciliation, justice and peace, and the return of victims and offenders to the community.”

Pope Francis continued to drive the Church toward ending the death penalty. On August 2, 2018, it was announced that the Catechism of the Catholic Church had been revised “in the light of the Gospel” to acknowledge that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” As one might expect, many Catholic bishops strongly disagree with this new direction.

The judicial systems of the world assume that punishment is necessary as a deterrent against violations of the law. That is certainly true in the Old Testament where punishments are mandated for all types of violations. For offenses that are considered particularly serious, capital punishment is the appropriate sentence. The list of such offenses includes blasphemy against God, violations of the Sabbath, murder, adultery, various sexual sins, witchcraft.

Those who advocate for a literal reading of the Bible may argue that this legal system came from God and remains valid today. On the other hand, the pope’s declaration that the death penalty is not necessary implies that, from his perspective, these biblical mandates either are no longer applicable today or never truly reflected God’s will in the first place. From my perspective, the latter is true: the biblical narrative itself leads to the conclusion that Christ represents the fulness of God and that his word is more authoritative than such Old Testament pronouncements.

The pope’s emphasis on allowing for the possibility of redemption and leaving a window of hope is consistent with the New Testament emphasis on God’s grace and compassion. Accordingly, in his book The Name of God Is Mercy, he advocates for a justice system that focuses less on retribution and more on reforming criminals and facilitating their return as contributing members of society.

Capital punishment offers no justice to victims, but rather encourages revenge. And it prevents any possibility of undoing a possible miscarriage of justice.

Even though the Law of Moses fundamentally endorses retaliation, Old Testament people were also familiar with the idea that vengeance belongs to the Lord. In the New Testament, those who follow Jesus are told that they must forgive and must not repay evil with evil. Those are the rules in a realm where God is truly king: the kingdom of God. The pope’s rejection of revenge is therefore appropriate. His willingness to reject the death penalty out of concern for the lives of potential victims of miscarriage of justice also suggests that he is truly pro-life.

One of the perplexing stories in the New Testament is that of the thief on the cross who repents right before his death and is told by Jesus that he will join Jesus in paradise. Here, the pope confirms that he is pro-life by stating that life is the most important divine gift to humanity and must be preserved even for the worst of sinners in view of their potential repentance. Here, he also specifically invokes the Gospel to justify his claim that “the death penalty is unacceptable” even though it is mandated in parts of the Bible.

It is well-known that Jesus was approached in John 8 by Pharisees and teachers of the law who, relying on the authority of the Law of Moses, wanted to stone an adulterous woman to death. Jesus told them: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Since none of them was without sin, they all walked away. Since nobody is without sin, nobody has the authority to carry out the death penalty. That directly contradicts any claim that God authorized, in Romans 13:1-4, secular authorities to carry out the death penalty. Paul, who wrote Romans 13 which urges Christians to respect secular authorities which are part of the world and outside of God’s realm, also wrote Romans 12 which describes conduct within God’s realm, including not repaying evil with evil.

When Pope Francis says that the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” refers to both the innocent and the guilty, he contradicts those who claim that the correct translation of the commandment is “Thou shalt not murder,” thereby giving themselves room to maneuver in authorizing killing under some circumstances. The claim appears to be consistent with other statements in the Old Testament in which God is said to condone killing. However, such statements apply to a fallen world and do not truly represent God’s will for mankind. Jesus, who truly represents the fulness of God, reveals God’s absolute disapproval of human violence.

Why did the Church, in spite of contributions made to its teaching by great theologians, get it so wrong for two millennia? I suppose we can, at the very least, point to the unholy marriage between the Church and the Roman Empire as the starting point of a major delusion.

The Kingdom of God in the Bible