History of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty Research Paper

History of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty - Research Paper ExampleIt is obvious that many at bottom the Catholic church building building are against the death penalty. But the church as of today has not taken any official stance. History of the Catholic Church on the death penalty Introduction From the descent there has been a battle within the Catholic Church on whether the Church should support the occasion of expectant punishment or not. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it seems slip by that the churchs response should be to support the hold of capital punishment, as long as it is done justly and all efforts are made to contract that an innocent man or woman is not put to death. Recently, popes and some of the bishops in the United States, cast off started to campaign against the use of the death penalty. It seems clear that these individuals are not denying the compatibility of capital punishment with Catholic teaching, solely instead have just begun t o argue against its use for a variety of personal reasons. This paper looks at the history of the Catholic Church on the death penalty and notes how it has changed over time. Early History The starting time real testimony against the use of the death penalty can be found in the Montanist working of Tertullian. Tertullian writing sometime between 197 and 207 composed De Idololatria. In this, Tertullian states in chapter seventeen that even if the servant of deity appeals to the power of the state, he should not pronounce capital sentences. Following up on Tertullian, Lactantius writing almost 305 to 323, wrote Divinae Institutiones. In this Lactantius states that when God prohibited murder, this also refers to the men who administer the death penalty (Bockle & Pohier 46). Lantantiuss position was clear a man could not even charge or be charged with a capital offense. After Tertullian and Lantantius others began to write on the subject. Felix in his work Octavius V, written around 225, states that it is wrong for the church to assist in the killing of man, or even to listen to an account of it. In the Canons of Hippolytus II, 16, Hippolytus in a more ancient Egyptian tradition states that whoever holds the power of the sword, and the judge who proceeds over capital cases, should recant their office or be excluded from the catechism (Bockle & Pohier 47). In the same vein, The Council of Elvira in 305 ordered that all the duumvirate magistrates should not bring down a church during their years of office, even though they were not required to pronounce capital sentences (Bockle & Pohier 47). The church had a problem here as to how it could support the right of the state to execute the hardened criminal, scarcely deny to those who enforce the law the rights and privileges of the church. Ambrose, a former imperial officer, saw this and in or astir(predicate) the year 385 wrote to the Magistrate Studius about just this issue. In this letter Ambrose stated that Romans 13 recognizes the states power to take life, still he also goes on to say that we should imitate Christ in his forgiveness of the adulteress. In Ambroses headspring he could not find a solution to the churchs dilemma. Augustine was to follow Ambrose in his writings in his De Libero Arbitrio. In this Augustine stated that the death penalty is a commandment of God. However Augustine was to go on to say in the