History of the Catholic Church on the Death penalty and How it Changed Research Paper

History of the Catholic church service on the Death penalty and How it Changed Over Time - Research Paper ExampleIn the primaeval days of Christianity, demise penalty however was favored by the perform as asserted by St. Augustine. During Catholicisms infancy, it was viewed as a way of deterring the commission of sins and a means to protect the straightforward from the wicked. Thomas Aquinas during the Middle Age upheld this view on the death penalty that the state does alone have the right, but is also duty bound to protect its flock from its enemies both from within and without the Church (Book 3, Chapter 146). At that time, it was thought that dispensing such punishment is not a sin for it is the justice of God that is universe carried out. Such, it is only proper then that by removing vicious from society will preserve the good. Such that, evil men that undermines and is an impediment of the common good should be removed from the society of men through death. galore(po stnominal) passages of the Holy Bible were used to justify this early position of the Catholic Church on the death penalty. While it was commanded that thou shall not commit murder, it was argued in I Peter (2, 13-14) that thou should be subjected therefore to every human creature for Gods sake whether to be on the king as excelling, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of good. ... During the same time, especially on the commencement ceremony Crusade in 1095, the Catholic Church, through Pope Urban II implied the penalty of death penalty to non-Christians when it encouraged the retaking of the Holy Land by force. As a result, Jews and Muslims alike were killed in the exploit for being non-Catholics. Death penalty was also used as a political weapon against its dissenters on its colony especially in the South East Asia. At the time when Spain invaded through the use of the target and Sword an unknown island in East known today as the P hilippines (after King Philip of Spain), death penalty was used against those who call for secession from Spain. For more than 300 years (1565-1898), the death penalty was used against political enemy by pressuring the Governor General who then ruled the archipelago But circumstances and time adjustment and so did the position of the Catholic Church on the death penalty. Despite of its previous position on the death penalty, the Catholic Church is now one of the most fervent advocates of the abolition of the death penalty. Whilst forward it find necessary to remove the wicked to protect the innocent through death, it now calls for a deeper regard as for the human life and that position thus far transcended even to the unborn. Recent position of the Catholic Church about death penalty changed to the abrogation of the death penalty. One of the Churchs recent Pope who was candid against the imposition of death penalty was Karol Wojtila or Pope John Paul II. During his tenure, the news media devoted substantial, even inordinate, attention to John Pauls pronouncements on abortion, divorce, gay rights, the death penalty, euthanasia, human cloning, and other arguable topics (Mulligan, 2006). The Holy See has consistently sought the