What About the Death Penalty?

Q: What is the Catholic Church’s teaching on the death penalty? Jesus does not say much about it other than “Turn the other cheek.” I think that means we should keep from getting more angry and inviting more hatred.

A: Scripture scholars would point out that Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39) was not given during a discussion about the death penalty.

After speaking of preserving the common good of society and correcting the aggressor, the 1997 revised edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

“If, however, nonlethal 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 with the dignity of the human person” (#2267).

Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life says, “Public authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime, as a condition for the offender to regain the exercise of his or her freedom” (#56).

The pope says that the death penalty should not be used “except in cases of absolute necessity,” which he considers “very rare, if not practically nonexistent” (#56).

Pope John Paul II has often asked U.S. governors and political leaders around the world not to execute specific people. He and many other bishops have made abolishing the death penalty an important part of their Jubilee Year efforts.