Roman Catholic Teaching and the Death Penalty: Actual Use versus Hypothetical Use

Thumbnail Image

Files

2017-13.pdf (254.89 KB)

Authors

Fleming, Julia

Issue Date

2017

Type

Journal Article

Language

Keywords

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Journal Issue

Alternative Title

Abstract

Although implicit, the distinction between the actual use of the death penalty and its hypothetical justifiability has played an important role in Roman Catholic ethical thinking on capital punishment. Recent developments in official Church teaching under Popes John Paul II and Francis regarding the death penalty reflect the popes’ negative consensus regarding its use under contemporary circumstances. While Evangelium Vitae limits, but does not exclude a priori, the possibility of justification for the hypothetical death penalty, the logic of Pope Francis’s statements to date seems inconsistent with such theoretical justification.

Description

Citation

Fleming, J. (2017). Roman Catholic Teaching and the Death Penalty: Actual Use versus Hypothetical Use. Supplement Series for the Journal of Religion & Society Supplement Series, 14, 133-149.

Publisher

Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center, Creighton University

License

The journal is open-access and freely allows users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of all published material for personal or academic purposes.

Journal

Volume

Issue

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/109264

PubMed ID

DOI

ISSN

1941-8450

EISSN

Collections

Supplement Series for the Journal of Religion and Society