Pope Francis calls for death penalty to be scrapped worldwide

[webfact]

Pope Francis calls for death penalty to be scrapped worldwide



"The commandment 'you shall not kill' has absolute value and applies to both the innocent and the guilty. Even criminals hold the inviolable right to life, a gift from God"

ROME: -- Pope Francis is calling for the abolition of the death penalty around the world.

He says the commandment “You shall not kill” is valid for both the guilty and the innocent.

In some of his strongest words ever against capital punishment, Francis also encouraged Catholic politicians to seek a moratorium on executions during the Church’s current Holy Year – which runs until November.

“The commandment ‘you shall not kill’ has absolute value and applies to both the innocent and the guilty. Even criminals hold the inviolable right to life, a gift from God,” Pope Francis told tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square.

In 2014, 2,466 people were sentenced to death globally, according to Amnesty International – up more than a quarter on the previous year.

As of last summer, 101 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-02-22

[NeverSure]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

However I guess from the Pope's point of view, kiddie fiddlers should be excepted from capital punishment as they are a protected class.

Cheers.

[shirtless]

Stick to cleaning your own house , of peadophiles , god boy you are running a business not a church ,

[SgtRock]

Pretty sure the Kingdom of Saudi et al will pay no heed to you whatsoever.

[JetsetBkk]

He is slowly but surely sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong.

[kamahele]

I agree that capital punishment should be abolished. It has no positive effect on society and at least in America, many people have been sentenced to death who were later proven to have not committed the crime. In the US it is actually cheaper to keep a killer imprisoned for life than put them to death and quite frankly, it makes us (society) just like them (killers) to put them to death. Give them a life time locked up to suffer for their sins.

[kamahele]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

However I guess from the Pope's point of view, kiddie fiddlers should be excepted from capital punishment as they are a protected class.

Cheers.

One would hope that we as a people and Christianity as a religion would have evolved over the past several thousand years. What is killing someone who you are holding in chains other than murder? we are better than that. Let the killer remain in prison to contemplate his or her sins for the rest of their natural lives.

[English 1]

7 people a day face Death by the State.

I abhour the thought of execution because nobody should take a life.......BUT

​The Pope says all life is sacred both the Guilty and the Innocent.....HOWEVER

If there where no Murders then there would be no need for Executions.

Having said that China, Iran and Saudia Arabia are killing people who have NOT killed anyone else!!

For Political reasons, Corruption, Drugs or for Sharia Law which is a disgrace.

​The USA has an appalling Prison System keeping people in mental torture on DEATH ROW for DECADES and then one day remembering them and give them the Needle........a 3rd World country with money indeed so true.

Is it a deterrent? Difficult to say.

[F4UCorsair]

Is he also calling for an end to sexual abuse of kids by catholic clergy?

[Pimay1]

Is he also calling for an end to sexual abuse of kids by catholic clergy?

You beat me to it.

[Grouse]

It is already abolished in all civilised countries

[Mot Dang]

So if Hitler was caught alive after WWII, the Pope would have let him live ?? (just hypothesizing that is)

[7by7]

He is slowly but surely sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong.

Surely, as a religious leader his nose most definitly does belong in moral issues?

Capital punishment is not a deterrent.

Those who commit murder usually

• do so in moments of passion or insanity with no thought of the consequences;
• think that they will not be caught, and many aren't;
• expect to be caught, but don't care if they are. Often, such as terrorism cases, they want to be caught and preferably killed as martyrs to their perverted cause.

That some countries still sanction state murder doesn't make it right for us to do so as well.

[RuamRudy]

He is slowly but surely sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong.

Surely, as a religious leader his nose most definitly does belong in moral issues?

Capital punishment is not a deterrent.

Those who commit murder usually

• do so in moments of passion or insanity with no thought of the consequences;
• think that they will not be caught, and many aren't;
• expect to be caught, but don't care if they are. Often, such as terrorism cases, they want to be caught and preferably killed as martyrs to their perverted cause.

That some countries still sanction state murder doesn't make it right for us to do so as well.

In fact, it could be said that capital punishment encourages murder - if you know that you might swing for your crimes, you are more incentivised to make sure nobody remains alive who could point the finger at you.

[sanukjim]

And my cry is "Off with their heads,Off with their heads".

[smotherb]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

However I guess from the Pope's point of view, kiddie fiddlers should be excepted from capital punishment as they are a protected class.

Cheers.

Properly translated? There are many different versions of the Bible today. Any Bible is a mish-mash of several iterations of oral stories told in several different languages, handed down though several centuries where undoubtedly parts were changed or omitted and new pieces added, edited and transcribed into several languages by dubious scholars, selectively taken out of context and rewritten several more times by different religious orders, rewritten to meet the approval of several monarchs and church officials, printed by several different sources in several languages, etc., ad infinitum.

You cannot even whisper a story to one person in a room of ten people, have each of them whisper the story to the next person, and have the tenth person tell same story at the end.

How can there be a proper translation, let alone a true reflection, of the words of someone, anyone who lived over 2000 years ago?

[NeverSure]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

However I guess from the Pope's point of view, kiddie fiddlers should be excepted from capital punishment as they are a protected class.

Cheers.

Properly translated? There are many different versions of the Bible today. Any Bible is a mish-mash of several iterations of oral stories told in several different languages, handed down though several centuries where undoubtedly parts were changed or omitted and new pieces added, edited and transcribed into several languages by dubious scholars, selectively taken out of context and rewritten several more times by different religious orders, rewritten to meet the approval of several monarchs and church officials, printed by several different sources in several languages, etc., ad infinitum.

You cannot even whisper a story to one person in a room of ten people, have each of them whisper the story to the next person, and have the tenth person tell same story at the end.

How can there be a proper translation, let alone a true reflection, of the words of someone, anyone who lived over 2000 years ago?

I meant translated in a different way. I should have said taken in its entire context. It's so apparent that "men of God" under the approval of God did a lot of killing. They wiped out entire cities. The Bible says that Samson was empowered to kill 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an animal which is seen in the Bible as being righteous.

One can't read the Bible without coming to the conclusion that there are justified killings, and the Bible doesn't say nor does it show that thou shall not kill. It only criticizes murder which comes in a different context, such as when Cain killed his brother Abel with deceit and out of jealousy.

[jesimps]

Reading all the bleeding heart lefty comments on here makes me even more pro capital punishment.

My condolances go out to all the poor people who've been killed by convicted murderers after their release.

[RuamRudy]

Reading all the bleeding heart lefty comments on here makes me even more pro capital punishment.

My condolances go out to all the poor people who've been killed by convicted murderers after their release.

Do you also extend your sympathies to those who have been executed for crimes they did not commit?

[Denim]

^{In the good old days there was the Spanish Inquisition. Times have moved on for the Catholics I guess. Time to send in the choirboys.}

[RuamRudy]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

However I guess from the Pope's point of view, kiddie fiddlers should be excepted from capital punishment as they are a protected class.

Cheers.

Properly translated? There are many different versions of the Bible today. Any Bible is a mish-mash of several iterations of oral stories told in several different languages, handed down though several centuries where undoubtedly parts were changed or omitted and new pieces added, edited and transcribed into several languages by dubious scholars, selectively taken out of context and rewritten several more times by different religious orders, rewritten to meet the approval of several monarchs and church officials, printed by several different sources in several languages, etc., ad infinitum.

You cannot even whisper a story to one person in a room of ten people, have each of them whisper the story to the next person, and have the tenth person tell same story at the end.

How can there be a proper translation, let alone a true reflection, of the words of someone, anyone who lived over 2000 years ago?

I meant translated in a different way. I should have said taken in its entire context. It's so apparent that "men of God" under the approval of God did a lot of killing. They wiped out entire cities. The Bible says that Samson was empowered to kill 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an animal which is seen in the Bible as being righteous.

One can't read the Bible without coming to the conclusion that there are justified killings, and the Bible doesn't say nor does it show that thou shall not kill. It only criticizes murder which comes in a different context, such as when Cain killed his brother Abel with deceit and out of jealousy.

You are quoting exclusively from the old testament. While I don't claim to be an expert on that particular fairy tale, I understand that modern Christianity tries to model itself on the words and deeds of Christ.

[PattayaAl]

I have to agree with him.

Death for some criminals is just too easy .

Spending the entire life in isolation I believe is a better punishment.

[NovaBlue05]

Well, he should have said so earlier. That changes everything...

[nottocus]

Many forms of execution need to be banned.

Bullet to the back of the head 5 minutes after sentencing is the way to go.

[BeefSlapper]

Pope is a fraud

Sent from my SM-A800F using Tapatalk

[kiwiaussie]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

Justifying killing. This could have been written by the mad mullahs in the ISIS PR department..

[NeverSure]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

Justifying killing. This could have been written by the mad mullahs in the ISIS PR department..

Come into my house in the middle of the night while carrying a machete and find yourself on the wrong end of a justified killing.

I suppose your idea would be to let the guy kill you and then let him rot in prison because that's more "humane?"

They were right and I was wrong. You can't fix stupid.

[RuamRudy]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

Justifying killing. This could have been written by the mad mullahs in the ISIS PR department..

Come into my house in the middle of the night while carrying a machete and find yourself on the wrong end of a justified killing.

I suppose your idea would be to let the guy kill you and then let him rot in prison because that's more "humane?"

They were right and I was wrong. You can't fix stupid.

I think you fundamentally fail to understand the issue. Where did anyone advocate giving up the right to self defense?

[kiwiaussie]

Properly translated, the Bible doesn't say thou shall not kill. After all there are lots of stories of killings done in the name of God. Take the story of Samson who killed a bunch of Philistines, or the time the walls of Jericho came down. Lots of examples. Lots of "righteous" wars and attacks on enemies.

It teaches thou shalt not commit murder and then teaches that murder depends on reason and attitude.

Justifying killing. This could have been written by the mad mullahs in the ISIS PR department..

Come into my house in the middle of the night while carrying a machete and find yourself on the wrong end of a justified killing.

I suppose your idea would be to let the guy kill you and then let him rot in prison because that's more "humane?"

They were right and I was wrong. You can't fix stupid.

Does your holy book tell you this too? Or are they just the voices in your head?

[smotherb]

I imagine the pope is concerned his priests may have to face the death penalty for kiddy-diddling and he would rather use them in some unsuspecting new parish.