Execution Statistics Mask Grave Departure From Catholic Justice Principles
Catholic News Agency reports a 92% increase in U.S. executions during 2025, with Florida responsible for 40% of the 48 state killings. The article highlights controversial execution methods – nitrogen gas and firing squad – while noting declining death sentences (22 nationwide) and Gallup poll data showing 52% public support, the lowest in 50 years. Of particular concern is the claim that 55% of Catholic voters support capital punishment according to an EWTN/RealClear poll. The report extensively quotes Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy of Catholic Mobilizing Network lamenting this “tough year” for abolitionists while promoting the conciliar sect’s 2018 Catechism revision declaring death penalty “inadmissible.” The narrative presents antipope Leo XIV’s September 2025 statement that supporting executions is “not really pro-life” as authoritative, despite its contradiction of perennial Catholic teaching.
Subordination of Divine Justice to Sentimental Humanism
The article’s moral framework constitutes blatant heresy against the Church’s immutable teaching on the state’s God-given authority to punish criminals. Pius XII definitively taught in Address to Italian Jurists (1955): “When it is a question of the execution of a man condemned to death, the State does not dispose of the individual’s right to life. Rather, the State applies the penal law.” The 2018 Catechism revision cited by Murphy directly opposes this principle, constituting what Cardinal Ottaviani termed in Dell’Ordine Morale (1963) “a pernicious error that would substitute divine law with humanitarian sensibilities.”
Naturalistic Distortion of “Pro-Life” Principles
The conciliar sect propagates a dangerous equivalence between innocent life and guilty criminals, condemned by Leo XIII in Libertas Praestantissimum (1888): “Justice forbids that anyone be deprived of his goods against his will… and in protecting the rights of individuals, special regard must be shown for the weak and helpless.” The article’s emphasis on murderers’ “suffering” during execution ignores the Catechism of St. Pius X: “The end of the punishment inflicted by the State is… to preserve public order and the security of persons.” (Compendium of Christian Doctrine, Q. 287)
Omission of Catholic States’ Duty to Protect the Innocent
Nowhere does the article reference the Syllabus of Errors (1864) which condemns the proposition that “the Church has not the power of using force” (Error 24). This silence enables the conciliar narrative that state power derives from popular opinion rather than Divine mandate. Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925) establishes Christ’s kingship over nations: “Rulers and princes… are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ.” The 52% Catholic support for capital punishment ironically demonstrates residual grasp of this truth despite decades of modernist indoctrination.
False Appeal to “Jubilee Year” Sentimentality
Murphy’s invocation of the “jubilee year” to oppose executions constitutes scriptural distortion, ignoring that Mosaic Jubilees mandated death for numerous crimes (Exodus 21:12, Leviticus 20:10). The article’s emotional rhetoric about “vengeance’s empty promises” directly contradicts St. Paul: “For he [the prince] is God’s minister: an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil.” (Romans 13:4). This rejection of punitive justice mirrors the condemned heresy of Marcionism, which repudiated the God of Justice in favor of false mercy.
Canonical Fraud in Presenting Conciliar “Catechism”
The 2018 Catechism revision receives uncritical treatment despite violating Canon 1323.2 of the 1917 Code: “No doctrine is understood as defined infallibly unless this is manifestly evident.” As Cardinal Ottaviani demonstrated in Dubia Concerning the New Rite of Ordination (1967), post-conciliar authorities lack jurisdiction to alter defined doctrines. The article’s praise for antipope Leo XIV’s anti-death penalty stance confirms Paul IV’s warning in Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio (1559) that heretical prelates automatically lose office.
Conclusion: Justice Crucified on Altar of Humanitarianism
This report exemplifies the conciliar sect’s complete inversion of Catholic moral theology. Where traditional teaching upheld capital punishment as vindication of divine justice (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II Q. 64), modernists reduce it to mere “vengeance.” The Florida bishops’ ineffectual petitions demonstrate what happens when clerics abandon their prophetic role. As St. Augustine warned: “Remove justice, and what are kingdoms but gangs of criminals on a large scale?” (City of God, IV.4). Until the Church returns to her pre-conciliar magisterium, such contradictions will only multiply.
Source:
U.S. executions rise in 2025 amid shifting public opinion (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 29.12.2025