March 22-23, 2025
Dear parishioners,
I would like to provide here one last installment in this series of articles on the recent executive orders from the Trump administration. Along with the other executive orders I covered over the last couple weeks, this last one also pertains to the Church’s teaching on the dignity of human life. Namely, I would like to offer a few comments on the recent executive order entitled, “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety.”
The text of the executive order states that “politicians and judges who oppose capital punishment… seek to thwart the execution of lawfully imposed capital sentences and choose to enforce their personal beliefs rather than the law.” Further, the order claims that such cases where capital punishment is not administered are “a mockery of justice, and insult the victims of these horrible crimes.”
Regarding legislation, the order stipulates that, “It is the policy of the United States to ensure that the laws that authorize capital punishment are respected and faithfully implemented…” Therefore, “The Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use. In addition to pursuing the death penalty where possible, the Attorney General shall, where consistent with applicable law, pursue Federal jurisdiction and seek the death penalty regardless of other factors” for specific federal capital crimes.
A starting point to address everything mentioned above is that capital punishment is not a new topic of consideration in the Church’s moral theological doctrine. While legitimate civil authority has the responsibility to ensure the safety of its citizens, it does not have the right to indiscriminate implementation of capital punishment. In fact, over the centuries, the Church has discerned that capital punishment can only be morally licit in very few cases and in very extreme circumstances, and is never to be the normal operating procedure. Additionally, given the fact that there are many more ways of detaining criminals at the present moment of history, it is not possible today for circumstances to actually warrant the use of capital punishment. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the original wording promulgated by St. John Paul II, is very clear on this point:
If, however, non-lethal 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.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm- without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself- the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically non-existent (CCC n. 2267).
Likewise, it is for this reason that Pope Francis strengthened the wording of this paragraph in the Catechism in 2018. It now reads, “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person…”
With the above considerations, it suffices to say that the Trump administration’s executive order, advocating capital punishment whenever possible, is not compatible with the Church’s moral teaching. While we continue to pray for the safety and security of our country, we also pray for an end to the practice of capital punishment, and for the conversion of heart of those who have committed serious crimes. Of course, we pray for our own conversion of heart as well!
Blessings,
Fr. Ammanniti
