A Filipino Catholic Church official has welcomed the change made by Holy father Pope Francis to the Catechism of the Catholic Church declaring death penalty as “inadmissible”, and has reiterated the call by the country’s Catholic Church against the government’s plan to bring back capital punishment. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced on August 2 that His Holiness Pope Francis approved a revision in the Catechism saying that the light of the Gospel, the Church teaches that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.
As reported by Radio Veritas of Manila Archdiocese, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman of the Commission on the Laity of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) remarked that “The purpose of punishment is rehabilitation and not vengeance. Death is totally unacceptable because there are now means to rehabilitate those who commit crime while protecting the community.
The CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Carealso welcomed Pope Francis’ decision to revise the Catechism and its explanation of the Church’s teaching on the capital punishment. Mr. Rodolfo Diamante, Executive Secretary of ECPPC, said they have long been pushing for such a revision. “It should never be said, especially in the teachings of the Church, that death penalty is justifiable,” he said.
