Vatican City, under the leadership of Pope Francis, has officially changed the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding the death penalty. The punishment, according to the new policy is now considered "inadmissible."
The Catholic world has yet again to integrate a new teaching in the Catechism of the Catholic Church - a summary of principles guiding the Christian religion, when the Vatican announced on Thursday that it has finally elevated such actions as wholly unacceptable in its dominion, a report said
Before this alteration, the Church, which is made up of more than 17 percent of the entire world's population, consented the death penalty as a necessary measure for cases wherein such punishment is needed.
Citing the official press release from the Vatican, it is said that under the legitimate authority and after a fair trial, capital punishment is nevertheless an "appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good."
However, Pope Francis' decision to totally ban the use of such punishment is now deemed more in line with the advocacies of the Church.
"The church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, 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," the teaching document indicates.
As of today, there are only 53 places in the world that still uses the death penalty. Middle Eastern states like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, just to name a few, are among the countries known to carry out life executions.
But there are also Asian nations implementing such policies up to this day. Japan, Singapore, India, Pakistan, and even China, as well with the others, have death penalty included in their respective constitution.
Meanwhile, the death penalty has already been abolished in most countries of Europe and South America. The latter seems intuitive since much of the Latin nations are predominantly Catholic.
The Argentinian head cleric had long been a stalwart critic on the use of death as means to punish convicted criminals. His move to enshrine it in the official Catholic teaching doesn't really come as a big surprise, especially among devotees of the religion. However, it does draw some mixed opinions.
A report from CNN cited US politicians, including those self-proclaimed practicing Catholics. According to some figures, practicing the abolition of the death penalty can still be a challenge especially to the 31 states who still use capital punishment.
