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Writer's pictureThe Hermit of Antipolo

Pope Francis and the Death Penalty (Quo Vadis, Pope Francis? Part 206)

Pope Francis does not denounce capital punishment in the Islamic world. Such public silence, in the face of many executions (oftentimes unjust), is hypocritical. And for what? To work at interfaith relations? At the sacrifice of Christian faith and conviction?

Then the Pope is against capital punishment, calling it morally inadmissable, for it destroys the most important gift we have received: life. So he is so concerned about life. Then why is he silent and even complicit with top Catholic officials in the West who are rabidly pro-abortion but claim to be devout and insist on receiving Holy Communion? Is that not hypocrisy?


Further, the Pope claims that capital punishment prevents any possibility of undoing a possible miscarriage of justice. So he is very vocal about such killings of around a thousand people each year and probably much less, but is relatively silent about the unjust murder of millions of the unborn each year through abortion. Is that not hypocrisy?

Finally, the Pope condemns the death penalty and unilaterally removed it from the Catechism. But capital punishment has always been accepted by the Church, being consistent in principle with both the natural law and the gospel.


Francis Glosses over Bahrain's Death Penalty


Pope's interfaith dialogue won't contest capital punishment for converts


MANAMA, Bahrain (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pope Francis' silence on the death penalty in Muslim countries is causing the Vatican acute embarrassment after a report published Monday highlighted a 600% rise in the use of capital punishment in Bahrain.

Pope with Bahrain's crown prince Salman bin Hamad Al KhalifaTimed just a month before Francis visits Bahrain for interfaith dialogue with the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the 61-page report underscores the steep spike in executions since anti-government protests erupted in 2011 during the Arab Spring.

Authored by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy and Human Rights Watch, the damning findings demonstrate how Bahrain's death sentences follow torture, forced confessions and sham trials.

Francis, a fierce opponent of the death penalty, dedicated the September 2022 worldwide prayer intention of his papacy to ending capital punishment, urging "all people of goodwill to mobilize for the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world."




Article published by ChurchMilitant For the full article, click here.


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