US Bishops approve revised passage on death penalty for American Catechism

Source: USCCB

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has approved a revised passage on the death penalty for the US Catholic Catechism for Adults. The full body of bishops approved the revised passage by a vote of 194 to eight with three abstentions at their Spring General Assembly which took place in Baltimore, from June 11-14.

On August 2, 2018, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released the Holy Father's revision to the teaching on the death penalty in the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 2267).

The revised statement on the death penalty will replace the current text in the USCCA (pp. 394-395).

Pope Francis' revision teaches that the death penalty is "inadmissible" and says the Church "works with determination for its abolition worldwide."

In a rescript, or decree, the Pope replaced the previous version of n. 2267 of the Catechism to read:

The death penalty

'2267. Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.

Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state.

Lastly, 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.

Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that "the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.

In an explanatory letter to bishops, in August last year, CDF prefect Cardinal Ladaria stated that the change was an 'authentic development of doctrine,' building on the teaching of Pope St John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

According to Amnesty International, in 2018 there were 25 executions in the USA - 23 by lethal injection and two by electrocution. As of May 2019 there were 2,636 inmates on 'death row' awaiting execution in America.