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   From: PBARKER002@woh.rr.com   
      
   US bishops welcome change to Catechism on death penalty   
      
   Washington D.C., Aug 3, 2018 / 06:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishops   
   across the US have welcomed the modification made to the Catechism of   
   the Catholic Church saying the Church teaches that capital punishment   
   is “inadmissible.”   
      
   Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles welcomed the changes, stating   
   Aug. 3: “I am grateful for Pope Francis’ leadership in working for an   
   end to judicial executions worldwide.”   
      
   He said the revisions “reflect an authentic development of the   
   Church’s doctrine that started with St. John Paul II and has continued   
   under emeritus Pope Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis.”   
      
   “The Scriptures, along with saints and teachers in the Church’s   
   tradition, justify the death penalty as a fitting punishment for those   
   who commit evil or take another person’s life,” Archbishop Gomez   
   wrote.   
      
   “And the Church has always recognized that governments and civil   
   authorities have the right to carry out executions in order to protect   
   their citizens’ lives and punish those guilty of the gravest crimes   
   against human life and the stability of the social order.”   
      
   He also noted that “in recent decades, there has been a growing   
   consensus — among bishops’ conferences around the world and in the   
   teachings of the Popes and the Catechism — that use of the death   
   penalty can no longer be accepted.”   
      
   “The Church has come to understand that from a practical standpoint,   
   governments now have the ability to protect society and punish   
   criminals without executing violent offenders. The Church now believes   
   that the traditional purposes of punishment — defending society,   
   deterring criminal acts, rehabilitating criminals and penalizing them   
   for their actions — can be better achieved by nonviolent means,” the   
   Archbishop of Los Angeles said.   
      
   “The Catechism now says the death penalty is 'inadmissible' — it   
   should not be used — because it violates the dignity of the person and   
   because 'more effective systems of detention have been developed,   
   which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do   
   not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of   
   redemption.'”   
      
   Archbishop Gomez added that the revision “is not equating capital   
   punishment with the evils of abortion and euthanasia. Those crimes   
   involve the direct killing of innocent life and they are always   
   gravely immoral. By definition, the lives of almost all those on death   
   row are not 'innocent.'”   
      
   He said that “I do not believe that public executions serve to advance   
   that message in our secular society.”   
      
   “Showing mercy to those who do not 'deserve' it, seeking redemption   
   for persons who have committed evil, working for a society where every   
   human life is considered sacred and protected — this is how we are   
   called to follow Jesus Christ and proclaim his Gospel of life in these   
   times and in this culture.”   
      
   Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice in Florida, chairman of the US   
   Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and   
   Human Development, said Aug. 2 that “we welcome the Holy Father’s   
   decision to revise the Catechism and its explanation of the Church’s   
   teaching on the death penalty. All human beings are created in the   
   image and likeness of God, and the dignity bestowed on them by the   
   Creator cannot be extinguished, even by grave sin, such that all   
   persons, from conception until natural death possess inalienable   
   dignity and value that points to their origin as sons and daughters of   
   God.”   
      
   “The new section in the Catechism is consistent with the statements of   
   Pope Francis’ teaching on the death penalty, including his 2015   
   address to the U.S. Congress, as well as the statements of his   
   predecessors,” Bishop Dewane said.   
      
   The Venice bishop noted that “Benedict the XVI urged ‘the attention of   
   society’s leaders to the need to make every effort to eliminate the   
   death penalty,’ and Pope St. John Paul II observed that ‘Not even a   
   murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to   
   guarantee this.””   
      
   He added that “For decades, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops   
   has called for the end of the death penalty in the United States.”   
      
   The same day, the Nebraska Catholic Conference issued a statement in   
   the names of Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, Bishop James Conley of   
   Lincoln, and Bishop Joseph Hanefeldt of Grand Island, saying Pope   
   Francis had “issued an important clarification on the Church’s   
   teaching regarding the death penalty. The Holy Father’s declaration   
   that the death penalty is no longer admissible under any circumstances   
   is an answer to our prayers and welcome news, especially for those of   
   us living in Nebraska.”   
      
   The change to the Catechism “rightly upholds the inviolability of the   
   human person,” the bishops of Nebraska said, “whose life is worthy of   
   protection from the moment of conception to natural death, and ought   
   to be treated with the respect and dignity given by God Himself.”   
      
   “As the Catholic Bishops of Nebraska, we join Pope Francis in calling   
   for the 'elimination of the death penalty where it is still in   
   effect,' since it is not necessary to protect public safety from an   
   unjust aggressor. In particular, as we have publicly expressed on   
   numerous occasions over the last two decades, Nebraska is fortunate to   
   have a competent judicial system, modern correctional facilities and   
   decades of law enforcement advances. Simply put, the death penalty is   
   no longer needed or morally justified in Nebraska.”   
      
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