Evolution of Church teachings about the death penalty in 20th and 21th century

Abstract

The aim of the study was to show the evolution and modification of teaching of the Church’s Magisterium on the subject of the death penalty. The analysis of this teaching, especially after the Second Vatican Council, clearly indicates the development and evolution of the Church’s doctrine as to the approach, understanding and application of the death penalty. To the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, the Church treated and considered the death penalty a justified way of punishing criminals and protecting society, that is, allowing the use of the death penalty. It was taught that since God has the right to take life, the state, through legitimate authority, in justified and necessary cases, can do so.

From the times of John Paul II, one can see a clear distance to the use of the death penalty, with the unequivocal declaration that it is not in itself evil. The Pope taught that the problem of the death penalty should be considered in the perspective of legitimate defense and at the same time put it in the context of criminal justice, which should more and more correspond to human dignity, and thus in the final analysis of God’s plan for man and society. He repeatedly opposed the death penalty, referring both to respect for the dignity of the person and to the means that society has to defend against the criminal. The efforts to abolish the death penalty were also continued by Pope Benedict XVI in his teaching.

Teaching the Church’s Magisterium and popes about the death penalty has never been a definitive teaching. However, he points to the development of the Church’s awareness of the respect due to every human life and personal dignity. Therefore, it is not surprising that the latest correction of teaching about the death penalty made by Pope Francis, which fundamentally changes the important Church doctrine on the subject of the death penalty, stating that it is unacceptable because it is „an assault on the inviolability and dignity of the person”.