Despite feeling God’s absence during long periods of her life, she never lost faith
Earlier this month the Catholic Church celebrated 25 years of Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s sainthood on her feast day on 5 September.
That she is a saint is a fact pretty much universally accepted, even outside the Catholic Church. Among the hordes of secular media, the Economist, in particular, waxed lyrical about the petite South-eastern European native. It is unusual because the news fraternity doesn’t normally have a fondness for religious figures or groups, much less Christianity.
Born on 26 August 1910 in Skopje, Mother Teresa started helping the poor, destitute and hungry in the slums of India while on a retreat in Calcutta in 1946. A group of young women joined her and four years later she founded the Missionaries of Charity dedicated to this work. Her religious congregation expanded around the world and today has over 5,000 sisters continuing her mission among the poor.
Despite her dedication to the destitute and dying, there was a minority few who were fiercely vocal against the canonisation of the naturalised Indian nun who died on 5 Sept 1997. And they did not only come from leading New Atheist figures such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins but from some prominent Catholic commentators as well.
Mother Teresa dedicated her life to caring for the poor, sick and destitute.
Why were they critical of her?
A likely reason is what she wrote in the book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. In it, the saint disclosed that throughout a long period in her life, she had felt a great distance between her and God. This flew in the face of most people’s perception of saints. In the popular imagination, they are thought to be people with halos around their heads to signify their closeness to God. They are supposed to walk in His presence and favour all the time. Perhaps, they are even supposed to see visions of angels!
The dark night of the soul
Instead, Mother Teresa seemed to be confessing to some sort of spiritual emptiness. Literally, the absence of God in her life! What, then, was behind her impassioned speeches and works of charity? Were they spiritual frauds?
There is a tradition in the Church to understand and explain this: it is the Dark Night of the Soul – a stage of spiritual purification where the Christian feels that God is severely absent from her or his life. An example is Job in the Old Testament. He was an extremely upright and virtuous man, and yet subjected to torments as though God was not present in his life. Scripture does not tell us how long his dark night lasted, but it seems to have been long enough for his wife to give up faith in God and for his friends to regard it as something serious. That is, it lasted for more than a single night.
The term “dark night” is not a reference to chronological time. It is a reference to the Bible verse that “weeping endures only in the night, and joy comes in the morning” (Psalms 30: 5). In Mother Teresa’s case, the dark night seems to have lasted for her entire adult life.
Saint John of the Cross described this concept in his poem Dark Night of the Soul. According to the mystic, it is a stage of purgation or purification of a soul from sin. It is when the sinner is exposed fully to how sinful and far away from God he is that he can make the path to heavenly virtue. As the saying goes, God reveals to redeem. There are two stages in this purgation: the physical stage which deals with appetites for material goods and the spiritual stage, which deals with spiritual tendencies.
The dark night of the soul is when God withdraws all spiritual and physical consolations from a person so that the Almighty refiner’s fire can work on him. God makes the person feel as if he has been abandoned by Him. However, the best analogy is to imagine that there is a river between God and the person, and the Lord is cheering for the subject to swim over to Him. And this is the last hurdle, like the final boss on a video game level.
The dark night of the soul does not occur at the beginning of a faith journey. It happens when a person is reaching the end of one level of a relationship.
Despite her dark nights, Mother Teresa remained dedicated to her mission.
One of the Canterbury Tales, the Clerk’s Tale, tells of a man, who, after being impressed by his wife’s fortitude, decides to test her. First, he removes their children by pretending to kill them and then finally decides to divorce his wife and marry a younger girl. When she takes all this in submissive stride, he finally relents and reveals the younger girl is in reality their daughter. Divorce and remarriage are, therefore, shams. This allows the wife to ascend into the next stage of the husband’s affections.
God does not abandon a soul
In the same way, this is what a dark night of the soul is. It is God’s issuing a final ordeal before a person achieves the status of saint. Without undergoing it, there is no justification to stand before the Throne of God.
Because the dark night of the soul is primarily a spiritual phenomenon, a person can still be strong enough, as Mother Teresa was, to do supreme acts of charity. The purpose of the dark night, after all, is to strengthen and not destroy the soul. This is unlike depression, which is a tool of the Devil to destroy the spirit.
This explains how Mother Teresa could still be so inspiring to others even while supposedly being distant from God. This is because He was still in her, even though to her, it seems this was not the case.
Far from being fraudulent, Saint Teresa of Calcutta was experiencing a closeness to God that most people can only dream of. Her experience proves to us, as believers, the true degree of her sanctity while still living on Earth.
In the face of greater challenges, the more we must cling to His Sacred Heart
For two days earlier this week on 19 and 20 September, my group from the Sabbatical programme at the Mercy Center in Colorado Springs visited the picturesque Colorado natural landscape. Soaring waterfalls and a majestic mountain range that was wooded with tall pine trees offered us stunning scenes that were akin to the romantic hills I am familiar with in Vietnam’s Da Lat city.
On the morning of the third day, I had an opportunity to walk alone in this place on a path under the pines along the cliffs. In my solitude, these cliffs looked as though they were reaching up to touch the passing clouds in the blue sky. It was mesmerising. I was in awe of nature’s beauty in the midst of this enchanting scenery of great mountains and trees.
Somehow, I became fascinated with the tall sturdy pine trees and wondered how their roots were able to penetrate the ravines and solid rocks to find their way as deep as possible into the ground. The roots beneath the surface keep a pine tree anchored firmly in place and from breaking during heavy thunderstorms and strong winds.
Nutrients allow pine trees weather storms
I was so intrigued with what I witnessed with my own eyes that I whipped out my mobile phone to take photos of this phenomenon. I wanted concrete proof of this truth so that no one would doubt me if I told them this incredible story.
I spent some time admiring nature’s work with the pines because they grew and thrived in a very difficult, harsh environment. They must strive to find soil to take root, unlike the pines we often see along roadsides of luxury boulevards, or in national parks that get them with ease. Those were planted by people.
In the wild of these mountains, the pine trees had instinctively found a way to survive. And this they did with their roots winding their way through ravines and the crevices of rocks in the canyons or gorges until they find fertile soil, where there are nutrients to feed the tree trunk and allow it to grow into tall, large pines.
The roots of the pine tree navigate the tough terrain to reach nutritious soil.
I gazed with fascination at the pine trees that stood before my eyes, as they stretched their shoulders up to the sky.
Alone in my thoughts, I pondered on the miraculous growth of these pines. Then, a light flashed in my mind to help me understand the meaning and value of the spiritual life, as well as the ordinary. These are issues that each of us often encounters in our daily lives. The more trials and tribulations we encounter, the more we must hold on to God. Only in this way, can we draw intense vitality from God, the source of life and of all graces. He is like the nutrient-rich soil wild pine trees feed on.
I was rejoicing and happy because God opened my heart and mind so that I can understand the wonderful truths about life. Even for me, there were times when faced with adversities or difficulties, I did not make an effort to let my roots grow – which is my relationship with God. I failed to let them be deeply entrenched in His Sacred Heart and feed on His graces and love. It would have allowed me to grow more in strength and faith in His abiding love for me.
I was deeply moved when I discovered that for a pine tree to grow big and stand tall its roots must go deep into the ground. But sometimes when it’s full of rocks they must find their way in between crevices of rocks, so that the roots can grow. Then, with time, these taproots (or main roots) will be able to penetrate deep into the nutritious ground to help the trunk become strong and stay upright, instead of wobbling or falling. Only, then, can it stretch its shoulders up into the sky.
The majestic Colorado mountains longing to touch the passing clouds, just as we must long for God’s Graces.
God’s Nutrients (Graces) allow us to weather storms
I was extremely happy in the Colorado outdoors because I discovered a wonderful explanation for my own problems and when I faced trials and tribulations. Recently, for example, I was lying in bed for 10 days, as I was not able to move my legs or body. I could not get out of bed without any help from others.
Then, there were times when I was confined to bed with back pains and could not walk for days. In such times, I fell into depression and did not want to do anything anymore. But I did turn to God in prayer and asked for Our Mother Mary’s intercession to heal me from my illness. I pleaded for strength to overcome the unbearable pain in my body, especially the lower back.
When I was finally able to get out of bed on my own without any pain, I was overjoyed and thank God and Mother Mary with all my heart for restoring my health. At such times, I become conscious of what my grandparents used to say: Only health is more precious than anything else. Health is like gold.
If you have good health, then you can have everything. If we are sickly and confined to bed, even if we are wealthy, the sense of helplessness and unworthiness envelops us. It robs us of any desire for anything. Those who have experienced illness will sympathise and agree with what I am sharing here.
Sickness, terminal illness, failure, abandonment, loneliness and all such unfortunate circumstances are all challenges that each of us needs to face and try to overcome. It is like a pine tree growing on cliffs in the Colorado mountains where its roots must find a way through ravines and rocky crevices to find nutritious soil to stay alive.
For us, too, every adversity and trial are opportunities that God sends to us to put our roots along the ravines and to go deep to hold on to Him. Therefore, the more trials and tribulations we face, the more we must cling to Him and let the roots of our love to be deeply anchored in the heart of the Triune God.
I gazed with fascination at the pine trees that stood before my eyes.
I would like to ponder the words of Psalm 39 to conclude my sharing.
For the leader, for Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
I said, “I will watch my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will keep a muzzle on my mouth.”
Mute and silent before the wicked, I refrain from good things. But my sorrow increases;
My heart smoulders within me. In my sighing a fire blazes up, and I break into speech:
LORD, let me know my end, the number of my days, that I may learn how frail I am.
To be sure, you establish the expanse of my days; indeed, my life is as nothing before you. Every man is but a breath.
Man goes about as a mere phantom; they hurry about, although in vain; he heaps up stores without knowing for whom.
And now, LORD, for what do I wait? You are my only hope.
From all my sins deliver me; let me not be the taunt of fools.
I am silent and do not open my mouth because you are the one who did this.
Take your plague away from me; I am ravaged by the touch of your hand.
You chastise man with rebukes for sin; like a moth you consume his treasures. Every man is but a breath.
Listen to my prayer, LORD, hear my cry; do not be deaf to my weeping! For I am with you like a foreigner, a refugee, like my ancestors.
Turn your gaze from me, that I may smile before I depart to be no more.
All images: Fr Peter Hung
The writer is on Sabbatical leave in the United States
Love of Christ impels us to nurture the baptised, bring home the lost souls
I had just given the instructions for an exciting game and could hear the young people shouting and laughing, and having fun.
But there I was outside the room, wondering why I was doing this every week. What was the purpose of doing youth ministry? Was there some ego involved in wanting to have the largest number of Catholic youths involved so they would not be attracted to join the “more interesting” Protestant church?
So what keeps me serving, especially as a disciple-maker?
1. Fear of God.
This is an unpopular expression but entirely biblical. Do we desire to please God knowing that one day you will appear before the Judgement seat of Christ, to receive a reward according to your works? St Paul says that it is this fear of the Lord, that motivates him to persuade others (2 Cor 5: 9-11). Sometimes, we forget that the man who didn’t use his talent to multiply didn’t just get sent to Purgatory for a temporary punishment. Jesus said to “throw this useless servant outside where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (Matt 25:30).
Indeed, not getting involved in the Great Commission is setting ourselves against the Lord. Jesus Himself declared bluntly that whoever does not gather with Me, scatters; whoever is not with Me, is against Me (Matt 12:30).
Maybe you may feel quite ungifted or struggle with time to be able to commit as a formal catechist. But even the last servant had one talent. The Great Commission is every Catholic’s vocation, even if it were to just one person. French Carmelite nun St Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) had her Little Way. Personal disciple-making is what Fellowship of Catholic University Students founder Curtis Martin calls, the Little Way of Evangelisation. Indeed, one person is still more than none.
2. Love of God
For St Paul “the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all”. Meditating on the Stations of the Cross, we should be so deeply moved, that we should no longer live for ourselves but for Him who for our sake died, and was raised (2 Cor 5:14-15). If we have within us the grace of Christ, His presence should also move us to compassion for the lost. Do you love Jesus? Then feed his sheep (John 21:16).
Sometimes, after a big event, Catholics shrug their shoulders and say, “we can only plant seeds”. Yes, occasional formations have their place as catalysts. But tending the sheep implies long term, not less attention to our newborn spiritual babies. Would you say to a baby, “if he needs further help, he knows where to find us”? Or would you do all you can to nurture him to full maturity? “Grace builds on nature” and if we are a Church that doesn’t care to truly disciple our young, we will continue to see swaths of perpetual spiritual infants, even spiritual deaths. Do you love God and care that His Church is dying?
Tending His sheep implies long term, not less attention to our newborn spiritual babies.
3. Love for the Church
It is heart-wrenching that while the structures for disciple-making are in the Rites of Initiation, Catholics fumble big time as Godparents, treating these roles rather perfunctorily. Even catechists have earned sharp rebuke that they do not yet have a full conception of catechesis “as a school of faith, an initiation and apprenticeship in the entire Christian life” (General Directory of Catechetics 30). Pope Francis in Joy of the Gospel #173, therefore, declares that the Church will have to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity – into this “art of accompaniment”. If catechesis is the Church’s pipeline to make missionary disciples and it is broken, let’s focus our attention on raising disciple-making Godparents who are effective in apprenticing and accompanying our new brothers and sisters to become Christ.
4. Love for Yourself
You may disqualify yourself as a disciple-maker, saying that you don’t know enough of your Catholic faith. But Pope St John Paul II said, “nobody is so poor he cannot give”. Indeed, as we give, we are challenged to learn more about our faith. Becoming a disciple-maker is not just an act of obedience to the Lord, but an opportunity to grow in faith, hope and love. It truly is to your spiritual benefit.
Which of the above is the most compelling reason to get involved in the Great Commission? Are there any other motivations for you to become a disciple-maker?
It is the identity and badge that true disciples of Christ always carry with them
“O Christ, we adore you; We bless you, for you have redeemed the world by Your Cross.”
On Wednesday, (14 Sept ) the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, for it is through the Cross of Jesus that mankind has been saved. I would like to invite you to reflect on the mystery of the Cross, especially through the readings in our liturgy for the Mass for the Feast (Numbers 21:4-9; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17).
In the first reading, we are told that the Israelites cried out against God and Moses for taking them out of Egypt and allowing them to die in the desert. They complain that there is no bread to eat, no water to drink, and are tired of this boring food of the Mana.
Therefore, God sent fiery snakes out that bit many people to death. They then ran to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Please pray that the Lord take the serpents from us.” So, the Lord said to Moses, “Make a bronze serpent and hang it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, they will live.”
In the second reading, the letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians tells us,
Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Phil 2: 6-11
Then in the Gospel of John, the Evangelist affirms, “Just as Moses hung the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may not perish forever.”
We can clearly see a very special connection between the three readings in today’s celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross. They revolve around one theme: Through the cross and death of Jesus Christ, all mankind and the universe received the gift of salvation and reconciliation with God, after mankind had sinned and deserved eternal punishment.
Dimensions of God’s love on the Cross
Saint Paul reflects on the mystery of the Cross and repeatedly states eloquently that the Cross is the culmination of God’s love for humanity.
Every time we look up at the Cross, we can discover every dimension of love that God wants to show to us: From the height to the breadth and depth He reveals in the death of Jesus Christ. In short, if we want to know how much God loves us, we just have to look up at the Cross and there we can contemplate all the dimensions of the great love which God wants to manifest to humanity.
A true disciple of Jesus Christ is the one who always carries on his body the Cross of Christ. Image: Museo del Prado
As Saint John writes,
Truly, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life, for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
Jn 3:13-17
And Jesus confirms this statement as well, “I have come to give you the fullness of life and I give my life as a ransom for many.” He also affirms, “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).
Through this, we discover that there is no love that can be higher or comparable or equal to the “self-sacrificing love” – that is, the love that freely gives, even at the cost of our own life in order to bring happiness and true liberation to the ones we love. Jesus did this for us through His shameful death on the Cross, and through that tragic death all humanity was renewed and redeemed, by His resurrection.
Because Jesus Himself willingly obeyed the will of God the Father, until His last breath God, therefore, glorified and gave Him a name that is above every name, so that anyone who hears the name of Jesus, every creature in heaven, on earth and in hell will bow down, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:8-11).
The mystery of the Cross of Jesus Christ is also the reality for each of us who are Christians. For this reason, Jesus himself says,
If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me every day, or Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. (Mt 10:38). The Cross, therefore, is always associated with the disciples and with those who want to follow Jesus Christ.
Mt 16:24, Mt 10:38
True disciples identify with Christ’s Cross
The Cross, therefore, is always associated with the disciples and with those who want to follow Jesus Christ. It is the identity of the disciples and their badge/emblem. Anyone who wants to be a disciple of Christ but does not want to carry His Cross as Jesus Himself declares, “He/she is not worthy to be His disciple”. Therefore, we can boldly profess that “A true disciple of Jesus Christ is the one who always carries on his body the Cross of Christ, which is the symbol or embodiment of the love we show to our beloved Master”.
May each one of us, no matter what is our position in the Church or in society, or in whatever state of life that we find ourselves in, if we have identified ourselves as Christians or as disciples of Jesus, may we always love the Cross that has been given to us in our lives. For it is through it that we are united to the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and become His true disciples.
May we understand and believe deeply the mystery of the Cross, which is also the mystery of redemptive love. This will give us strength whenever we have to face our own sufferings, from the body to the spirit, the failures in our lives, the crises and disappointments that make us frustrated and want to give up.
At these critical moments, we need to ask for the strength from Jesus who was hanging on the Cross to help us to overcome these obstacles, since He has conquered the world and all its evil power. Christ will give strength to those who want to commit themselves and follow Him in His footsteps.
Written on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Wednesday 14 September 2022, in Colorado Springs.
Fr Peter Hung Tran is on Sabbatical leave in the United States
Pope Francis prays for the abolition of prisoner executions worldwide
Capital punishment is a topic that never fails to evoke strong emotive opinions from those who are for or against the punishment. It is no different in the Catholic Church. Since Pentecost Day more than 2,000 years ago, She has been on both sides.
It is a worthwhile topic to revisit because many Catholics tend to take extreme either/or positions and this has led to confusion.
Pope Francis’ seems to have settled the matter. His prayer intention for September calls for all people of goodwill “to mobilise” for the abolition of capital punishment throughout the world. (Watch video)
The Holy Father has persistently pushed to eliminate executions of prisoners since 2018 when he reformulated No. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to teach that the death penalty is no longer admissible. The previous wording read as “the right and duty of legitimate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty.”
Two years later, Pope Francis doubled down on the inadmissibility of capital punishment in his encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, much to the dismay of many Catholics, including clergy and theologians, who accused him of changing Catholic doctrine.
Has he?
No, he has not. Pope Francis is only advancing the doctrine to the next level from what his immediate predecessors had developed.
At the heart of this inadmissibility, he teaches that:
… more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption. Consequently, 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’.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2267
Popes since 1969 call for end to death penalty
In 1969 Pope St Paul VI removed capital punishment from the fundamental law of Vatican City. After him, St John Paul II in his 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, taught that “If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means …”
This teaching was reflected in his updated version of his Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1997 that Pope Francis recently reformulated.
On Christmas Day in 1998, the Polish Pope reiterated his opposition to capital punishment with the message, “May Christmas help to strengthen and renew, throughout the world, the consensus concerning the need for urgent and adequate measures to halt the production and sale of arms, to defend human life, to end the death penalty …”
Pope Benedict XVI went further when he addressed the Community of Sant’Egidio during his November 2011 general audience with the message, “I express my hope that your deliberations will encourage the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty …”
While the Pope has not change the doctrine on the death penalty, he teaches its application is no longer admissible.
In detailing Pope Francis’ rewording of CCC 2267, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Dicastery (Congregation previously) for the Doctrine of the Faith, explains, “This development centres principally on the clearer awareness of the Church for the respect due to every human life. Along this line, John Paul II affirmed: ‘Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this’.”
So, how does this development square with the Old and New Testaments where legal punishment of personal injury did allow “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Exodus 21:23-24)? Acts 5:1–11 speaks of the divine punishment meted out to Ananias and Sapphira when Peter rebuked them for their fraudulent action (Acts 5:1–11).
St Paul, in his Letter to the Hebrews 10:28 says that “a man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses”.
In Romans 13:14 he also writes that rulers acting against wrongdoers do so as “God’s servant for your good” and “does not bear the sword in vain”.
Doctors of the Church Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus invoke the authority of Scripture and patristic tradition for the death penalty. Their peers, Saints Robert Bellarmine and Alphonsus Liguor, were also in agreement that certain criminals should be punished by death.
Despite the episode of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 and St Paul’s Hebrew and Roman letters, Christians in the early centuries avoided capital punishment in Imitatio Christi (Imitation of Christ), which was then, as it remains today, the highest standard of holiness. The Church, then, was under persecution and Christians sought to follow Christ in His virtues, and in His sufferings, even to the point of martyrdom.
Christ rejects violence
Jesus, himself, refrained from using violence. He rebuked his disciples for wishing to call down fire from heaven to punish the Samaritans for their lack of hospitality (Luke 9:55). Later he admonished Peter to put his sword in the scabbard rather than resist arrest (Matthew 26:52).
The Church’s tolerance of capital punishment came about when Christianity was legalised in 313 AD and Catholics rose to positions of governance. Christian judges, especially, were required to dispense justice, including capital punishment, according to the laws of the land, but would be in mortal sin if the Church taught against legitimate authorities bearing the sword.
The clergy, though, were prohibited from participating in capital punishment for they were teachers of the Gospel and, as evangelisers, exercise the ministry of redemption.
What recent popes, especially Francis, have done and are doing is to reorientate the Church towards when She taught against capital punishment.
In Fratelli Tutti, the Holy Father reminds us that “Pope Nicholas I (858-867 AD) urged that efforts be made ‘to free from the punishment of death not only each of the innocent, but all the guilty as well. During the trial of the murderers of two priests, Saint Augustine asked the judge not to take the life of the assassins with this argument: ‘We do not object to your depriving these wicked men of the freedom to commit further crimes. Our desire is rather that justice be satisfied without the taking of their lives or the maiming of their bodies in any part. … Do not let the atrocity of their sins feed a desire for vengeance, but desire instead to heal the wounds which those deeds have inflicted on their souls’”.
Risk of executing the innocent
A key concern of the Church and people of goodwill has always been the miscarriage of justice that results in the execution of innocent people. While data covering all countries are unavailable, a 2014 study in the United States estimates that at least 4% of executed prisoners are innocent.
No justice system is perfect and the danger of executing the innocent is always there.
Despite all the safeguards in place, no justice system is perfect and we can assume innocent lives are lost through capital punishment up to this very day in countries that practise this punishment. In repressive authoritarian systems, the death penalty is also often used as a tool for vengeance and to silence political opponents.
(Capital punishment) does not render justice to victims, but instead fosters vengeance. The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ has absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty.
The question must be dealt with within the larger framework of a system of penal justice open to the possibility of the guilty party’s reinsertion in society. There is no fitting punishment without hope! Punishment for its own sake, without room for hope, is a form of torture, not of punishment.
Returning to Scriptures, Moses sings that God will vindicate His people with the phrase “vengeance is mine” in Deuteronomy 32:35. He adds “In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” In St Paul’s letter to the Romans, he also emphasises they should not “repay evil for evil” (Rom 12:17).
What we can take away from this is that man must not exact punishment on behalf of God for His honour. He will satisfy His own wrath. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah out of vengeance for their iniquity (Gen 19).
But He withheld vengeance from Nineveh after Jonah preached to them (Jon 3).
The Almighty, and not men, knows the hearts of every person and seeks repentance from all sinners, no matter how grave their offences are. He shows mercy to those who do and rain down His justice perfectly on those who refuse.
Submission of mind and will to Pope Francis’ teaching
So, while Pope Francis is not redefining capital punishment as “intrinsically evil” and therefore always wrong, which would have changed Catholic doctrine, he is teaching that its application is no longer admissible. This is the fundamental point that many Catholic theologians, clergy and laity have not given much weight or ignored outright.
At its core, what Pope Francis is teaching is that while “Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense (CCC 2266)”, the reasons for applying the death penalty are no longer admissible. In CCC 2267 and Fratelli Tutti he makes this point that the Church “works with determination for its abolition worldwide”.
Catholic legislators and judges, therefore, would not be in mortal sin if they are required to dispense the legitimate laws of their jurisdictions. But they and all Catholics must give religious submission of mind and will to Pope Francis’ teaching on the death penalty.
Those who refuse to do so, will do well to read Donum Veritatis, the instruction that the then prefect Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s Congregation (Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued to theologians. But it is good reading for all Catholics. Key paragraphs:
28. … a particular application (is) the case of the theologian who might have serious difficulties, for reasons which appear to him well founded, in accepting a non-irreformable magisterial teaching.
Such a disagreement could not be justified if it were based solely upon the fact that the validity of the given teaching is not evident or upon the opinion that the opposite position would be the more probable. Nor, furthermore, would the judgment of the subjective conscience of the theologian justify it because conscience does not constitute an autonomous and exclusive authority for deciding the truth of a doctrine.
29. In any case there should never be a diminishment of that fundamental openness loyally to accept the teaching of the Magisterium as is fitting for every believer by reason of the obedience of faith. The theologian will strive then to understand this teaching in its contents, arguments, and purposes. This will mean an intense and patient reflection on his part and a readiness, if need be, to revise his own opinions and examine the objections which his colleagues might offer him.
According to available data, most executions take place in Asia, with China topping the global list. Only Bhutan, Cambodia, East Timor, Hong Kong, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have abolished the practice.
