Bishop welcomes worldwide decline in use of death penality

Bishop Declan Lang

Source: CCN

Bishop Declan Lang has welcomed figures showing a continued decrease in executions around the world and repeated calls for the UK government to help continue momentum towards global abolition of the death penalty.

Speaking following the release of figures which showed a further 5% drop in recorded executions last year, Bishop Declan who chairs the Catholic Bishops' Conference Department of International Affairs said: "Catholic teaching is clear that the death penalty is inadmissible and the Church works with determination for its abolition. This applies whatever offence somebody has been convicted of and wherever they are in the world.

"I am very encouraged that globally use of the death penalty has decreased for another year. However, hundreds of people are still being executed by their governments and in some countries, the number has increased dramatically.

"I urge our own government to put working towards global abolition of the death penalty at the forefront of its foreign policy. Through committed diplomatic and economic pressure, the UK can help maintain the momentum towards ending this gross violation of human dignity where it still exists."

On 2 August 2018, a revision was made to 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church stating:

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.

See also: ICN 9 January 2019 - Pope renews appeal for end to death penalty www.indcatholicnews.com/news/36321