I don’t want to be the kind of Catholic who constantly slings shade at the pope, but when the Holy Father makes comments that defy 2,000 years of Church Tradition and the truth in Sacred Scripture, I feel compelled to engage.
Especially when it concerns the legitimacy of the death penalty and seemingly goes against pro-life teachings affirmed by Christ's Church.
For all the Protestants out there, I'd like to provide a bit of clarification on the infallibility of the pope. Here's what infallibility does not mean, followed by what it does mean.
Not every word from the Holy Father’s mouth is perfect or binding. He is only infallible when he sits in the Chair of St. Peter and issues decrees on faith and morals, essentially resolving a deadlock in the Magisterium by declaring the correct interpretation of Scripture.
The pope has exercised this authority only twice in Church history. Otherwise, he offers pious opinions — some of which we can and should disagree with.
For example, consider Pope Leo XIV's latest statements about the death penalty and his defense of awarding Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) a lifetime achievement award despite his very passionate pro-abortion stance.
A journalist from Catholic television network EWTN recently asked the Holy Father for his thoughts on Durbin receiving an award from Cardinal Blase Cupich despite his very vocal support for abortion.
In his long response, the pope implied he had no issue with Cupich receiving the award.
“I think that it is very important to look at the overall work that a senator has done during … 40 years of service in the United States Senate,” he responded. “I understand the difficulty and the tensions but I think, as I myself have spoken to in the past, it is important to look at many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the Church.”
“Someone who says I’m against abortion but says I’m in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life,” the pope continued. “Someone who says I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
I guess, according to Leo, the many popes before him, the early Church Fathers, and great thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine were all wrong to defend and clarify the use of the death penalty.
Pope Leo’s statement on the death penalty follows the erroneous teaching of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who claimed capital punishment is, in itself, morally wrong. It's a point of view that flies in the face of Church teaching and tradition.
LifeSite News reported that Catholic philosophy professor Edward Feser, co-author of a book defending the traditional Catholic teaching on the death penalty, called the pope’s remarks “manifestly false.”
“To cite just a few names among many, sainted doctors of the Church such as Thomas Aquinas, Alphonsus Liguori, and John Henry Newman were against abortion and for the death penalty, as were sainted popes such as Innocent I, Pius V, and Pius X. I imagine Leo would not dare to suggest these great heroes of the Catholic faith were ‘not really pro-life,” Feser explained.
While I absolutely respect the pope, I part ways with his view of the death penalty and firmly side with the great figures of Church history noted in Feser's explanation. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's not really "pro-life" to be anti-death penalty. Why? Because it lessens the inherent dignity of human life as being made in the image of God.
Not to mention, God Himself, in Gen. 9:6, institutes the death penalty as a just punishment for the crime of murder. Are we really going to be so arrogant and haughty as to say we now know better than our Creator? If God believes that human life is so precious and valuable that the forfeiture of the murder's life is required for punitive and restorative justice to be fulfilled, I'd say that's good enough for me.
There's also the use of capital punishment as a deterrent against future heinous crimes. Despite the popular narrative that the death penalty is ineffective at swaying people from committing murder, a number of studies suggest otherwise.
One study from the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation says that for every one execution, 18 murders are deterred. If even one is deterred, is that not worth it?
God instituted the death penalty in Genesis, and nowhere revoked it. It remains available for use in cases of murder to this day. Sacred Scripture and Church Tradition completely oppose Pope Leo’s view on the death penalty.
How can the pope say those who favor the death penalty are not pro-life, but in the same breath defend awarding Sen. Durbin, who has supported the murder of pre-born children? Durbin cannot receive the Eucharist in his own diocese because of his pro-abortion stance. And yet he deserves an award?
Make it make sense.
Surprisingly, Cupich himself, on the same day Pope Leo defended his receiving the award, declined to accept it.
While I firmly believe Jesus will protect and preserve His Church from error, I’m far less optimistic about Leo’s papacy than I was earlier this year. I suspect many traditional Catholics feel the same way.
Pray for the pope.
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