What happened?
Pope Francis changed the wording of the Catechism on the death penalty. There was widespread disagreement, however, about the meaning of the change, in which the death penalty was said to be “inadmissible”. The Catechism previously said that Church teaching “does not exclude recourse to the death penalty”, while urging governments to avoid using it where possible. It is unclear whether the Pope was implying that the death penalty was intrinsically immoral.
What commentators are saying
Commentators were divided on the meaning of the new wording. At First Things, philosopher Edward Feser said: “Pope Francis has once again appeared to contradict two millennia of clear and consistent scriptural and Catholic teaching.”
The legitimacy of the death penalty was affirmed not only by Scripture, Feser said, but “by the Fathers of the Church, including those Fathers who opposed the application of capital punishment in practice”. The great theologians – such as St Thomas Aquinas and St Alphonsus Ligouri – clearly said that the death penalty was not always immoral, as did “the popes up to and including Pope Benedict XVI”.
But at Community in Mission, Mgr Charles Pope drew attention to the accompanying statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This used “an important interpretive phrase: ‘Today, however …’ ”. So the Pope was only talking about “the Church’s current stance”, he said, not claiming “that previous Church teaching was wrong”.
At the website The Josias, the theologian John Joy, an expert in magisterial authority, said it was hard not to conclude that the text “suffers from serious ambiguity (inasmuch as it seems to be open to multiple interpretations) or even incoherence”. Out of respect for papal authority, Joy said, Catholics should try to interpret it as not contradicting traditional teaching.
At his blog, Joseph Shaw agreed that the new text was ambiguous. But its effect would be the “undermining of belief in the binding and irreformable teaching of the Church that the death penalty is licit in some circumstances”.
✣Bishop backs investigation of McCarrick scandal
What happened?
A bishop in Indiana has said people deserve to know why the allegations against Theodore McCarrick went unreported for so long. And speaking of bishops, Bishop Timothy Doherty of Lafayette asked: “Who knew what and when, and did not report it?” He said it was “not impossible” for the Church to hire an outside investigator.
Why was it under-reported
The bishop’s comments, made in an article for the diocesan newspaper, were picked up on social media on Thursday morning. Hours later the Vatican announced that the Pope had ordered a change to the Catechism on the death penalty. Understandably, this latter story took over the news cycle. But Bishop Doherty’s reaction to the crisis stands out from that of other members of the hierarchy. He was the first to raise the possibility of an external inquiry. No other prelate has talked about the need to uncover whether bishops knew anything.
What will happen next?
The subject will dominate the US bishops’ plenary assembly in November. A flurry of committee meetings will be held in the run-up to the assembly. But what action will be taken is unclear. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the bishops’ conference, has said only that the bishops are “determined to find
the truth” concerning the “many questions surrounding Archbishop McCarrick’s conduct”. Procedures for reporting allegations may be improved. And Bishop Doherty’s proposal will have to be discussed.
✣The week ahead
The solemnity of the Assumption takes place on Wednesday. The feast is a holiday in many parts of the world, from Italy to Malta to the Central African Republic. It is the oldest feast of Our Lady. On the same date the Orthodox observe the Dormition of the Mother of God, which commemorates the “falling asleep” of Mary and her bodily resurrection.
Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, a documentary by German film-maker Wim Wenders (pictured), is released in British cinemas today (see review in Arts). Wenders focuses on the Pope’s concern for the poor, the environment and immigrants.
Archbishop Philip Wilson, the former Archbishop of Adelaide who was convicted of failing to report clerical abuse to the police, will attend a court hearing on Tuesday to consider where he will serve out his 12 months’ imprisonment. He may be granted “home detention” rather than be sent to jail. The archbishop is appealing against his conviction.
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