EPISTLES

Raymond Arroyo, Father Gerald Murray, and Robert Royal critique recent papal comments regarding the abolition of capital punishment. They argue that while Pope Leo and Pope Francis describe the death penalty as “inadmissible,” this term functions more as a legal preference than a shift in unchangeable moral doctrine.

The panel contends that Church tradition and divine revelation have historically upheld the state’s authority to execute those guilty of heinous crimes. Ultimately, they suggest that facing a definite execution date can actually provide a profound motivation for a criminal’s spiritual repentance.

Raymond Arroyo: Pope Leo created a video this week marking the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois. The Pope from Illinois talked this way: “The right to life is the very foundation of every other human right. In this regard, we affirm that the dignity of the person is not lost even after various serious crimes are committed. This is why Pope Francis and my recent predecessors repeatedly insisted that the common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment. The Church teaches that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. And I likewise offer my support to those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States of America and around the world.”
Father, Catholic philosopher Edward Feser—who’s written extensively on this, both during Pope Francis’s reign and now—said on social media just days ago, this entire debate is, quote, “stupid and tiresome,” and that the death penalty is not intrinsically immoral and that anything the Pope says on the subject has to be understood in light of the 2,000-year tradition that preceded it—the Church Tradition. Father, your thoughts on the Pope’s words, and is Feser right here?

Father Gerald Murray: Well, the Church has always taught that the use of the death penalty to punish certain crimes is moral, not immoral. The Church has never said that the death penalty is in itself immoral. Now, it can be applied immorally, and we’ve seen that certainly in history where, like, minor crimes or people guilty of no crimes are sentenced to death. But people who are found guilty of committing serious crimes can be put to death legitimately.
Pope Francis created a change in the Catechism of the Catholic Church where he said that the death penalty is inadmissible. This is not a category of moral or dogmatic theology; it can’t be understood. “Inadmissible” is essentially a legal term. You know, like evidence is inadmissible in court. Well, who determines what’s admissible and inadmissible, and what’s the reason for that decision?
When we get down to it, essentially, if you say that the death penalty is a violation of human dignity, well then God himself violated human dignity when he commanded the people of Israel to execute certain people for certain crimes. The Church has always understood through revelation and natural law that certain crimes may be punished by the state with the death penalty. It doesn’t violate your human dignity.
And Pope Francis, and now Leo, also says we cannot deprive people of the time and chance to repent, and that happens—in their supposition—if you execute them. Well, I would say just the opposite. If you know you’re going to die at a specific date because you’ve been sentenced to execution, that’s plenty of time to turn to God. It only takes an instant to turn to the Lord. And I have to say, if you face death, that’s a real motivation to say, “Lord, I want to get right with you.”

Raymond Arroyo: Well, this is the Cardinal Avery Dulles line, who we both knew. Cardinal Dulles put forward the argument that it gives them a finite time to face their inner soul, what they did, and make restitution for it, because there’s a definite date when they’re going to die. And it actually hastens that reconciliation with God, which is the focus of the Church—or I thought it was. And Bob, for the record here, the Catholic Church all throughout history—when the Papal States were still in order, really through the 19th century till 1870—the Catholic Church executed people for high crimes.

Robert Royal: Yeah. The focus on this question of capital punishment is really quite curious because here we have the Pope creating a video and sending—I mean, obviously he has a connection to Illinois and Chicago, and so, you know, he might do something a bit unusual because of his personal background—but the recent focus on this, on limiting the death penalty, is very, very curious. Because the death penalty, even here in the United States—and we are criticized internationally for imposing the death penalty—last year, 2025, you know how many people were executed? 47. 47 in the entire United States. And you can imagine some of the crimes that those people committed, and they were executed usually after decades of review and challenges and whatnot.
Even this term “inadmissible,” as Father said, is not a moral term. And in fact, I interviewed privately one of the people who was asked to find a Latin term that would give them the maximum ability to deny the use of the death penalty without contradiction. And that’s why they came up with this term “inadmissible”. It doesn’t say that it’s wrong; it just says it’s inadmissible.
Now, in the meantime—and this is the greatest irony for me—last year in the United States, we killed almost one million babies in the womb. I would like to see a Pope send a video to the March for Life in January every year. I mean, if we want to look—I always say the numbers aren’t everything here—that, you know, the state executing someone, that’s one moral example, and the abortion issue is another moral example. But if we just look in broad terms, where are more people being killed in the United States and around the world? It’s in those pro-life issues that I think cry out to heaven for justice. So look, the Pope can express his opposition to the death penalty. And in some instances, maybe it’s wise to keep people in jail. But the way that this is emphasized is very strange to me.

Raymond Arroyo: Yeah. And promoted as if it’s dogma. And Father, it doesn’t seem as if it is dogma. I mean, as Bob said, that “inadmissible” is kind of a slippery term. In August of 2018, Pope Francis officially revised paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and he declared the death penalty inadmissible because it attacks this inviolability and the dignity of the person. Did that change—I know there was the change in wording—but did it change the doctrine? And does it in any way undermine the human dignity of the person?

Father Gerald Murray: Well, you can’t change the doctrine, because if the doctrine changes, that means the one who gave the doctrine is changeable. And we say God is unchangeable. The moral law is unchangeable. What is moral cannot become immoral, and vice versa. And then, of course, the whole question here that we’re dealing with is in Revelation, it is clear that the death penalty was a morally imposed penalty by divine will on certain crimes. If you said, “Well, the Catholic Church can change doctrine,” well then you’re putting her in contradiction with divine revelation.
So people always say, Well, moral teaching is just about acting in a good or bad manner”. Moral teaching is about the nature of the one who gives the teaching. So it gets down to the divine essence and will as manifested to us. So you know, death is not the ultimate evil. The ultimate evil is damnation. That’s what the Church has to focus on. To say to people, “The worst thing that can happen to you is that you be executed,” I would say no. The worst thing that can happen to you is you go to hell when you die. And if you committed a capital crime, being executed may be the motive—as it was for Jacques Fesch, who was a famous case in France where he repented. A number of people have repented in prison when they know they’re going to be executed. Bob’s point is profound. Unfortunately, the liberal agenda is now tacked on to the Catholic Church. Liberals don’t want to talk about abortion; they do want to talk about capital punishment.

Raymond Arroyo: Yeah. And wrap it in “pro-life”. I mean, even the Pope, his opening line was about, you know, it’s because of the pro-life teaching of the Church that there’s a dignity in every human person. Well, yes, there is. But if you commit a heinous crime and you’re a danger to the common good in society, incarceration would then qualify as undermining your human dignity, too. But that’s the penalty for violating the common good and threatening others.

Father Gerald Murray: Yes. And I’ll just say quickly: the whole regime of punishment for crime is an affirmation of human dignity because human dignity is not an isolated category. It relates to the community. If I offend, if I kill somebody, I have violated their human dignity. If I suffer death for that crime, my human dignity is affirmed because I’m a moral agent who’s being held responsible for my actions. So we can’t just dismiss this and say, “Well, since the Popes don’t like capital punishment, the Catholic Church teaches it’s wrong”. That doesn’t matter. The Pope has to stay with the teaching he received. That’s his job.