While Catholicism today, in the era of felt banners and “dialogue”, is known for being eminently humanistic, it might surprise the contemporary world to learn that the Church for a long time knew that man’s rights had limits. Justice meant more than mere rehabilitation. It was also retribution, sometimes fierce, upon the wicked.
In continuity with the understanding of the Old Testament and St Paul’s teaching that the state does “not bear the sword for no reason” but with “wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer”, Church Fathers to nineteenth century popes were entirely concordant in their support for the death penalty.
