Capital Punishment

Capital punishment is a subject which arouses in men the strongest emotions and one on which there are divergent views, some of them at variance with one point or another of Catholic teaching. There are, for example, those who deny openly that the State has any right to inflict the death penalty, at least in times of peace. Others affirm categorically that the death penalty is something which no Christian can tolerate. Furthermore, some of those who are not Catholics look upon the teaching of the Church on this question as out-dated and old-fashioned, while others, inside the Church, will say that capital punishment is a matter about which Catholics must make up their own minds.

In view of this variety of opinions, Catholics need some guidance if they are not to be misled by such utterances, if they are to know in what sense, and to what extent, they are free to form their own opinions on this question.