A pro-life news service that specializes in hysteria says (emphasis added):
Is that what the Catechism says? Let's open up our Catehism at random and see where we land... aaaaaand OK... here we go (again, emphasis added).
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."
So according to the hystericists, I can support the death penalty even though the circumstances where its use is licit do not exist in my country?
I happen to agree (albeit with significant reservations) with the notion that a flashy campaign against the death penalty is not the best use of the Church's resources at this time (after all where is the CCEA to go along with the CCEDP? ), but what good is it to dispense with the teachings of the Church in order to belabor the point? Or to put it another way, what will it profit a man...?
