Catholic Church and capital punishment

The Catholic Church's position on capital punishment has varied throughout the centuries following the Church's establishment, evolving from somewhat supportive to largely apathetic to mostly anti-capital punishment. In more recent times, the Catholic Church has generally moved away from any explicit condoning or approval of capital punishment and has instead increasingly adopted a more disapproving stance on the issue. Modern Church figures such as Pope John Paul II,Pope Francis, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have in fact actively discouraged the death penalty or advocated for the out-right abolition of the death penalty. Historically, the teaching of the Catholic Church used to categorize capital punishment as a form of "lawful slaying", a view defended by theological authorities such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.Augustine felt that the death penalty was a means of deterring the wicked and protecting the innocent. In the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas reaffirmed this position. (See also Aquinas on the death penalty). However, after the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church has been staunchly opposed to the death penalty.

During his papacy, Pope John Paul II appealed for a consensus to end the death penalty on the ground that it was "both cruel and unnecessary." Pope Francis also proposed the abolition of the death penalty, as well as life imprisonment, which he felt is just a variation of the death penalty.

According to St. Augustine:

The same divine authority that forbids the killing of a human being establishes certain exceptions, as when God authorizes killing by a general law or when He gives an explicit commission to an individual for a limited time.

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