Timothy Birdnow

Another day another papal tennis shoe in mouth.

At least this time he's on more solid ground as this is not just his personal opinion but rather his interpretation of Church teaching.

It's not a matter of Faith and Morals and the Church used to say executions of very bad criminals was acceptable but the last half dozen or so Popes have taught that capital punishment is wrong because it ends a person's chance to repent (of course facing death may force repentence where life in prison may not, but who am I to quibble?)

Read the history of Catholicism's opposition to capital punishment here.

Loopy Leo of course had to step in when the government announced it was bringing back death by firing squad.

There are many moral arguments for the practice. Justice requires it for one thing, on occasion. While Christians are to practice mercy the state is "given the power of the sword to punish evildoers" as stated by Paul in Romans IV. HE clearly didn't have a problem with it. We shouldn't be handing out death penalties willy-nilly (like the British used to do in the old days - you could be hanged for being homosexual or for stealing food) but there are some crimes where the only form of justice available is execution.

Another reason is the one stated above; it may be the only way to compel someone to repent. In that regard executing them is a kindness because the shock of it is the last chance and forces the evil person to confront his or her life.

Then there are pragmatic reasons; how many more murders, rapes, acts of torture and cruelty are there today when we rarely impose the death penalty compared to when we did impose it? Those numbers have risen dramatically since we quit using old sparky and yet nobody wants to mention the obvious. Even if the death penalty only takes one life it takes one evil person off the streets for good - and we no longer have to pay for that scumbag, give him food and clothes and a warm bed. But the reality is that fear of the death penalty helped to limit crime because people would control themselves when faced with so ignominious an ending.

Western Civilization is crumbling, falling apart and being absorbed by people who never did end the death penalty. Coincidence? I don't think so.

But, but, but, ... it was misused and innocent people - especially black men - were executed! That is true and that is why we instituted Civil Rights legislation in the first place. But now it takes a series of appeals to finally meet the grim dripper and there is little chance the guy who is being executed was falsely accused. When in doubt juries always give a lesser punishment.

I am not only in favor of the death penalty but I think it should be public, and perhaps you should be able to see it on some sort of media. People need to know it's happening and so learn that there are moral lines that may not be crossed.

Here are a few passages from Scripture favoring the death penalty:

"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” – Genesis 9:6

"Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.” – Exodus 21:12

Numbers 35:30

"Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer, by the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.” – Numbers 35:30

"For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” – Romans 13:4

"When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.” – Proverbs 21:15

I could go on but you get the point. Many crimes were dealt with via execution in the Old Testament, usually by stoning.

But we think we've evolved past that now when in fact we have DEVOLVED, and it shows in the chaos and violence of our oh-so-enlightened societies. NOT executing a murderer or evil person is the real act of violence.

Of course the punchy Pontiff has a cartoon version of the world, how it works, and of God's Justice. So many liberal Christians see only the Mercy and never the Justice. But God is all just as well as all merciful and if HE says we need to do it who are we to think we know better?

We're Pope Leo, that's who.

Posted by: Dana Mathewson at April 25, 2026 07:58 PM (8kMOw)

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at April 26, 2026 08:16 AM (oflqW)

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