- Home
- Publications
- Capitol Comments: The Death Penalty is a Respect Life Issue!
Capitol Comments: The Death Penalty is a Respect Life Issue!
By Andrew Rivas, J.D., Executive Director, Texas Catholic Conference, Member, JSRI Advisory Board
In a 2002 Pew Research-sponsored presentation at the University of Chicago, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was asked if he thought the use of the death penalty would ever lead to the execution of an innocent person. His answer was “…of course it will. I mean, you cannot have any system of human justice that is going to be perfect.”
Justice Scalia was not speaking in 2002 as a member of the Supreme Court on the legal merits of the death penalty; rather, he was speaking as a Roman Catholic on the question of whether he thought the death penalty was morally acceptable. His reply is contrary to the teaching of Pope John Paul II, who three years earlier stated during his Homily at the Papal Mass in St. Louis:
“The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil…I renew the appeal I made…for a consensus to the end of the death penalty, which is cruel and unnecessary.”