Explain the Church's Developing Position on the Ethics of Capital Punishment in Today's World

An explanation of the Church's teaching today, which is in opposition to capital punishment, has been given in the last 25 years by the U.S. Catholic bishops in statements, from the "Statement on Capital Punishment" 1980, to the 2005 statement "A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death" stating that "the use of the death penalty is unnecessary and unjustified in our time and circumstances." Christians for the first three centuries were pacifistic and non-violent in …

…national/ deathpenalty/compendium.shtml [ accessed on 2 March 2006] 13 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice." November 15, 2000 [online]. Available from http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/criminal.htm [accessed on 10 March 2006] 14 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops "A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death." Copyright © 2005, Washington, D.C. [online]. Available from http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/penaltyofdeath.pdf [accessed on 10 March 2006]