You will find a statement on the death penalty in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 2266 and 2267. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is available on the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/.

 The church does allow the use of the death penalty, but only if this is the only way of protecting people against an unjust aggressor. The church believes that the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity ‘are very rare, if not practically non-existent’.

There has been a significant shift away from the position as stated by the Church in ancient times and most commentators today would consider that the circumstances in modern society do not exist such as to justify capital punishment.

In fact, the new Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (2004) states that the “Church sees as a sign of hope ‘a growing public opposition to the death penalty, even when such a penalty is seen as a kind of legitimate defence on the part of society. Modern society in fact has the means of effectively suppressing crime by rendering criminals harmless without definitively denying them the chance to reform.”

The literature on capital punishment is vast. The Bishops have not made a statement on this subject but it was treated in the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council Position Papers. The ACSJC Position Paper on 'Why the ACSJC Opposes the Death Penalty' sets out simply and clearly the reasons why the ACSJC is opposed to the death penalty, provides quotes from Church teachings on the issue, a list of resources, and suggestions of actions. It can be downloaded from the Position Papers page of the Australian Catholic Social Justice website (http://www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au/) or ordered in printed form from the ACSJC Secretariat for $2.20 plus postage.