There are things Catholic Church leaders say that Republican politicians piously cite to shape U.S. law. And then there are things Catholic Church leaders say that Republican politicians ignore because they only care about religion when it’s conveniently in line with their own beliefs. This is going to be one of the latter:
Pope Francis has declared the death penalty inadmissible in all cases “because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” the Vatican announced on Thursday, in a shift in Roman Catholic teaching on the issue.
The church’s earlier position had been that the death penalty was allowable in “practically nonexistent” cases. But now:
“There is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes,” [the new formal teaching] says.
“In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.”
When Pope Francis spoke to Congress in 2015, Republican after Republican after Catholic Republican after Catholic Republican came forward to explain why they were ignoring or outright rejecting this pope after all their years of self-righteousness. And it boiled down to “because he doesn’t confirm our views on every single thing.”