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Most Reverend William S. Skylstad
Bishop of Spokane
Chairman, Committee for Domestic Policy
UNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCE
On the Death Penalty Clarification in the Definitive Edition of the Catechism
On behalf of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, I express our pleasure with the modifications to the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the death penalty. The Holy Father has spoken out repeatedly against violence in all its forms. The Papal Encyclical, The Gospel of Life, is a clear articulation of this and the language of the Definitive Edition of the Catechism is entirely consistent with these teachings.
The clarification of teaching about the death penalty is in the context of a state's right and duty to protect society from unjust aggression. The revision makes it clear, however, that when non- lethal means are sufficient to achieve this protection, civil authorities ought to use only those means. And because of the advances in state options to otherwise remove the offender from further harm to society, cases where the death penalty should be used "are very rare if not practically non-existent." (John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 56)
Additionally, punishments other than death "are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person."
For over 25 years, Bishops in the United States have called into question the necessity for capital punishment in the context of respect for all life.
Within our culture, we are tragically turning to violence in the search for quick and easy answers to complex human problems. Increasingly, our society looks to violent measures to deal with some of our most difficult social problems--millions of abortions to address problem pregnancies, advocacy of euthanasia and assisted suicide to cope with the burdens of age and illness, and increased reliance on the death penalty to deal with crime.
For Catholics in the United States, we hope these changes will increase the dialogue around the death penalty and create an environment where we take a hard look at the violence in our culture and the need to defend life at all levels and in all circumstances.