Catholic teaching on the death penalty is best understood by viewing it through two lenses: what it is; and what it is not.

10/21/2005 at 4:56 PM Posted by Catholic Citizens of Illinois

Catholic teaching on the death penalty is best understood by viewing it through two lenses: what it is; and what it is not. The Church-s critique of capital punishment is not an evasion of justice. Victims and their survivors have a right to redress, and the state has a right to enforce that redress and impose grave punishment for grave crimes.