In this special live Locals broadcast of 'The Catholic Experience,' I explore the Catholic Church's teaching on the death penalty and address misconceptions regarding changes under Pope Francis. I clarify that the revised Catechism, stating the death penalty is not allowed, aligns with historical teachings aimed at protecting innocent life. I emphasize that humans lack the intrinsic authority to take innocent life, and any such power is on loan from God, requiring careful and cautious use. Additionally, I analyze different biblical interpretations and historical perspectives, such as those of Augustine, in light of modern advancements in technology and changed circumstances that now favor life imprisonment over execution. Throughout the discussion, I balance my personal views with a respect for differing opinions within the faith community. This broadcast, while reflecting my views, aims to provide a richer understanding of the nuanced theological and moral considerations behind the Church's evolving stance on capital punishment.

Okay.

Yes.

Welcome.

My friends.

Welcome to this special live broadcast of the Catholic experience.

I am your host, the Catholic adventure taken a little while away from my wife and children.

Not that I'm neglecting them or anything, just had some moments of free time that I can invest in this.

This won't take long.

I'm talking about the death penalty today.

Yes.

Yes.

Talk about the death penalty like I've done several times before but I guess some people haven't caught it Or some people aren't getting the message.

I'll explain why i'm bringing this up in just a little bit This is going out to everybody on my locals community as a thank you and a welcome to the two or three new people Who signed up and got me a little closer a little closer to that 50 goal 50 member goal that I have so every time I get like one of these big bumps Of a sign up of something followers to twitter or whatever Um, I try to do a little something to say.

Thank you.

So here we are Face to face a couple of silver spoons if you know, you know Let's fade that music out.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Dj So why am I bringing this up first?

I got a bunch of stuff.

Not a bunch of stuff I've got several things to talk about um Regarding this subject.

Where did this start?

You This started with a post on X that I responded to by someone, um, who, I'm not gonna name, I don't like naming names, unless I want to give them attention.

You know, like, hey, check this person out, follow this person, whatever.

I don't like naming names because I'm not trying to shame people, I'm not trying to, you know, openly challenge people.

Um, and this person in particular, um, we disagree here and there, um, but I follow them.

I follow him.

He follows me.

Um, I like his stuff.

He likes some of my stuff.

We disagree sometimes, whatever.

I just don't want to, I don't want to create drama.

So I don't want to sound like I'm, you know, talking behind someone's back.

So let me throw the name out there.

Totally pointless.

Anyway.

I responded to something he wrote about the death penalty.

Um, he, as far as I can tell, he, like many Catholics believes that the The Holy Father Pope Francis changed the church's teaching on the death penalty a few years ago.

That's what I think From what I gather.

Okay that that he believes this many Catholics do It is not true, and I'm going to share my thoughts about it And I'm going to explain to you why that is not true Okay, and there's something very interesting Happened, uh, today.

I posted earlier that I was doing this feed, doing this broadcast.

And someone, one of my followers, I'm sorry, one of my, the community members here on Locals, who by the way, is also a paid supporter, and I'm really grateful to him for that.

And he's, you know, he, he enjoys the work that I put out there.

He's one of my followers on X and stuff.

So just wanted to say, thank you.

Anyhow.

He dropped something very interesting, but, um, not, not the homerun that some people may think.

His comment went like this, one of the best summaries of the Catholic argument for the death penalty that I've ever read is, quote, by man shall his blood be shed.

A Catholic defense of the death penalty by Dr.

Ed Fesser and Joseph Besset, it looks like.

And then he says recommended.

I did do a search for that.

I did a very quick search for it.

I didn't do a thorough search for it.

On first pass.

I couldn't find it.

That's okay.

That's okay Because i'm not really looking to to i'm not really looking to counter argue or or debate somebody else's point I'm looking really to give you my thoughts and my opinion Um, I would have liked to have been able to find that but whatever What I did find see something about that didn't sit right with me By man shall his blood be shed.

So I thought, let me go to the scripture and look at that.

And then I thought, um, let me go to the Vulgate and look at it.

And I'm going to review my, I'm going to review the scripture.

I'm going to tell you my thoughts from the perspective of the Vulgate because it is not as clear as some think.

Okay.

I also want to say, and warn you, this is a warning.

that until I hit 50 members, my live streams are capped.

Oops.

My live streams are capped at 50, uh, 30 minutes.

Okay.

30 minutes is the max that I can do for my live streams until I hit 50 members.

Then I think it boosts it to a hundred.

Um, when I hit 50 members, it boosts, it boosts the cap on my live streams to, I think, one hour.

Okay, if this gets cut, if, I don't expect to do this for a half an hour, but if I do, if I go, if I exceed 30 minutes, Locals will cut off the live feed.

But I am recording it on my computer.

If Locals cuts off the live feed and I just appear to suddenly stop, Up at 30 minutes i'm going to post the on demand version However, the on demand version will only be a bit like the full version the full whatever I did beyond 30 minutes That will only be available for paid members.

Okay But for everybody else paid and free members you're getting at least the first 30 minutes of the live stream.

Okay, let's get into it now Did the pope change church teaching on?

The death penalty.

Let me give you a brief summary, and I do mean brief.

I don't want to take a lot of time doing this, okay?

When the Pope revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church, basically removing the allowance for the death penalty, a lot of people said, hey, he changed church teaching.

When that happened, I was very surprised by that, because what the Pope was saying, the Pope's Catechesis, On this doctrine, to me, sounded like how I always understood the death penalty.

Prior to Pope Francis, the Catechism basically said this.

The death penalty is allowed in cases where, I guess, the crime is severe, the criminal is very dangerous, and so in the interest of protecting the public, The death penalty is permitted if it's, if it's in order to protect the public, to protect the innocent, to protect society at large.

Okay, now the Pope's catechesis, which is reflected, I think, in new translations or new publications of the catechism of the Catholic Church, the catechesis is the death penalty is not allowed.

Well, why?

That appears to be a change, but it is not.

And again, at the time when this happened, I was very, very shocked that people saw this as a change of teaching.

Because his catechesis, to me, sounded like how I always thought the death penalty or the catechesis on the death penalty was advanced.

This didn't sound like a change to me.

This just sounded like Catholicism to me.

So why do people think he changed it?

Well that's number one.

Number one because the Catechism used to say it's allowed for the protection of the innocent if someone's very dangerous, yada yada yada, and now the Pope is saying it's not allowed.

Well that sounds like a change, but it really isn't.

So the first thing I want to share and offer for your consideration is that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a summary of the Catholic faith.

You are not, you are not getting moral theology.

In there.

I mean, you're getting some, but you're not getting the full teaching.

You're not getting the moral theology.

You're not getting the full theology.

You're not getting the full, you know, scriptural treatment.

You'll find references in there.

You'll find some treatment in there, but you won't get the full scriptural treatment on any teaching.

It really is a summary.

It's a pretty, I don't want to say it's exhaustive.

It's a pretty thorough summary, but it really is a summary.

Okay.

Okay.

To my knowledge.

And I'm talking, to my knowledge, long before Pope Francis, probably as far back as John Paul II, to my knowledge, it has always been the case that the church says ending an innocent human life is always evil, right?

And sometimes it is necessary to protect the innocent.

by taking human life that threatens the innocent, for instance, self defense.

Sometimes it is necessary to protect the common good by executing a very, very, very dangerous criminal.

I don't mean, you know, a notorious or infamous, infamous bank robber.

I mean a murderer or a terrorist, right?

Death penalty is allowed if it, in those cases, those extreme cases.

Okay.

That's how I always understood the death penalty.

There are people arguing that, no, the death penalty is allowed in the interest of justice.

Mmm, here's my first problem with that.

And this is something I really want you guys to take from this.

We have no authority to take innocent life at all.

None.

Zero.

None.

We do not create life.

And so we don't have, now we are co creators in life, right?

We make children, but we are not creators of life.

We are not the masters of life.

We cannot decide when life ends.

Well, but what about a just war?

Ah, okay.

Now, a just war can be whittled down to self defense, right?

What if someone was trying to kill one of my kids?

I mean, like literally trying to kill them.

Then I have the authority to defend my children.

By, if I have to, killing the assailant.

If I have to.

If I have to.

If someone is beating an innocent person, Um, the example I gave on X was if someone's beating an innocent person with a baseball bat, do I have authority to shoot them in the head?

In defense of life?

No.

Because I can defend their life, I can defend the person's life by doing something else.

Throwing a rock at them.

I don't know.

Punching them in the face.

I have no idea.

But we're talking about a wiffle ball bat.

When we exercise just authority, authority that is just, when we exercise just authority to take human life, in those extreme cases, self defense, just war, or a very dangerous criminal, right?

We technically don't even have that authority either.

We're borrowing it.

We're borrowing that authority from God.

We inherit that authority, we don't have it intrinsically.

Let me say it again.

When we exercise an authority in defense of human life and injustice to end a human life, we are borrowing that authority from God.

We don't have it intrinsically.

Okay.

So we cannot overstep the authority of God.

We cannot outpace the authority of God.

We cannot say I'm really pissed off at what you did to my loved one.

So I'm going to shoot you in the head.

We don't have that authority.

And if we take that authority, then the authority we are taking is the authority over life and death, and that belongs to God.

We inherit our authority, in that case, and therefore we have no authority to overstep God.

Okay?

If that doesn't make sense, click rewind, listen back to it again, okay?

Now,

now let's talk about justice.

Thank you very much.

We have a very funny way of understanding justice in the human order.

Justice and mercy from the perspective of God is different from justice and mercy from the perspective of man.

Right?

From our perspective, justice is giving what's owed or rendering what is owed.

Sometimes it means taking, right?

Justice is rendering what is owed.

And mercy is diminishing suffering, minimizing suffering, or removing suffering.

Yes, it's true if, if someone, you know, sometimes you're merciful to your kids.

They deserve a punishment, but you don't punish them.

Or you punish them less.

Right?

Instead of grounding them, you might give them a talking to.

I don't know.

Okay?

The way God renders justice is completely different.

Why?

Because he's God.

He's the master of life and death.

Okay.

He can allow someone to go to hell in justice if they choose to.

Okay.

I'm not going to get deep, deep into that.

It's enough to say from God's perspective, justice is different.

It's similar in nature, but it's different in, or it's similar in kind, but it's different in nature.

Mercy is also different.

We have no ability at all.

To give mercy the way God does, because God's mercy almost defies logic, right?

You deserve hell, but I'll send my son to die for you.

To, as just said in the mass readings, to carry your guilt on his shoulders.

That almost defies logic.

Mercy is different from the perspective of God.

He can render mercy in ways that we literally cannot.

He can render justice in ways we literally cannot.

Okay, so we have to be careful the way we use that word justice.

So, person X.

Killed, uh, killed person Y.

Person X is captured.

Person X is sentenced.

Person X is convicted.

Now, people might argue that in justice, person X should die because he killed person Y.

But that is not justice, because killing person X will not restore life to person Y.

What that is, is, that's not justice, that's revenge.

That's revenge.

That is not justice.

That's revenge.

Justice is rendering what is owed, giving or taking what is owed.

The rendering can be a giving or it can be a taking, as I said.

Justice is rendering what is owed.

Ultimately, we have no way of rendering what is owed to a murderer.

Because we can't restore the life that was taken.

It can be argued, but you give closure to the victim's family.

I, I get that.

I get it.

You give closure to the victim's family.

I get that.

I really do.

But we have to see this from God's perspective.

Do we have power to render justice that gives closure to somebody else?

Do we have that authority?

Do we have that power?

Is that a, is that an authority that we inherit?

And, and the way we apply it, or exercise it, oversteps God?

Isn't it up to God to heal that person's heart?

And do they really get closure?

Or do they just get a pacification of their pain?

I, I don't have those answers.

I'm just presenting it for your consideration.

Okay?

So there's that.

We inherit the authority we exercise.

It ultimately starts from God.

Where it's basically on loan.

So we can't exercise it in a way that supersedes or outpaces God.

We can't.

First of all, we're not able to.

Right?

Like, as I said, we can't restore the life that was taken.

We're not able to.

And second of all, in ways that we might be able to, we shouldn't.

Because God wouldn't do that.

Uh, I don't know.

Like taking the life of the murderer because he committed murder.

Not only does it not, not, not only does it not restore the life that was lost, but we're rendering justice in a way that God does not.

God will render justice later when that person is judged.

But God doesn't zap them with a bolt of lightning causing them to drop dead on the spot.

I also want to throw this out there before I get to the scripture.

For people who have been victims of crimes Or people who have really had to work hard to get where they are Like if you've had to work hard to get where you are Like I have I've I've came from nothing and then I had a bunch of something And then I went to nothing again, and then I kind of toppled When you've worked hard to survive you hate for people to get anything for free But maybe some people need to get something for free or whatever in injustice Injustice, not in blind charity, but injustice.

Maybe sometimes people need to get a little free help, right?

And when you've been a victim of a crime, you really want the scumbag to pay.

You want every scumbag to pay.

Isn't that true?

It's just true.

I mean, when you've been a direct victim of crime, you or someone close to you, when you, you've been touched by serious crime, you've been robbed, someone in your family was murdered, whatever.

You want every scumbag to pay the price, right?

That's true.

That's true.

But is that how God sees things?

I know it's hard.

I want every deadbeat to pay their own way.

I want every scumbag to pay the price, whatever the price is.

But is that how God sees things?

We have to see things the way God sees things, always erring on the side of caution.

Now, let me get to this scripture.

Because this is very interesting.

I'm very glad he shared this.

I wish I could have just Taking more time to look for the article, but I didn't have the time.

I will say this I think i'm familiar with ed fester's work And I don't think I like it Let me just see.

Let me just do a quick Search, is this the fella that I recall?

I think so.

I think I know his work and I think I don't like it Not that I don't like him.

I think I'd I think i'm like this on his work if he is the person who I think he is whose work i'm familiar with but okay That's That's okay.

I'm not saying he's a heretic.

I'm not saying he's a modernist.

I'm not saying he's a radical.

He's not crazy.

Okay, but I don't think, I think I know who, I know his work, and I think I don't like it, but that's okay.

So the person who sent me this comment, one of the best summaries of the Catholic argument for the death penalty I have ever read, Is and that this is a title by man shall his blood be shed a catholic defense of the death penalty And I I have not read the article so I I can't say well, here's my response to the article I I can't respond to something I haven't read But that opening quote by man shall his blood be shed is very interesting By the way at some point in this stream.

I do want to get into a different article the catholic argument for The, the Pope's current catechesis, okay?

If, if I run out of time, I'll just keep doing it and record it.

It'll be available on demand to paid members.

Okay.

So let me try to get through this very quickly so I can get to that.

By man shall his blood be shed.

Now, if we look to the scripture, okay, Genesis, uh, 9, verse 6.

Now he's talking to Noah.

God is talking to Noah.

Actually, let me back up to verse 4.

Okay.

But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it, and surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed.

I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man.

Let me repeat that.

I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man.

It's pretty strong, right?

Whoever sheds the blood of man By man his blood will be shed.

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.

For in his own image God made mankind.

But as for you, be fruitful and multiply, yadda yadda yadda.

Something peculiar about that.

So whenever I spot something peculiar, I go to the Vulgate.

Let's go to Genesis 9 verse 6 in the Vulgate.

This is the translation of the Vulgate.

Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed.

It doesn't say by his own, by the hands of man, his blood shall be shed.

Yet.

Right?

His blood shall be shed for man was made in the image of God.

Oh, let me back up to five, I'm sorry.

For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man and his brother.

I will require the life of man.

It almost sounds like he's saying whoever sheds the blood of man by the, by man, his blood shall be shed.

It's different.

Let me say, recite verse five again, for I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man and of his brother will I require the life of man.

We're seeing man here a lot.

But,

for I will require the blood of your lives.

In Latin, sanguinem enim animarum vestrarum requiaram.

What he's talking about is the blood of your soul.

Sanguinem enim animarum.

The blood of your soul.

You can render it as life blood, but we're definitely seeing the word soul in there.

And the soul does not have blood.

Fine.

But that should clue you in that God is not saying the obvious.

He's saying something deeper.

Okay?

That should be your first clue.

Okay?

Now, going back to the English.

At the hand of man, et de manu hominis, de manu viri et fratris eius requiram.

Animan hominis.

Okay.

So in the Latin, it switches from man in general to man specifically, right?

From man in general, like, uh, not mankind, because mankind is a little bit more personal.

But he's talking, he goes from man in general to men, males specifically.

Okay?

At the hand?

So, let me put this together for you in a way that's easier to understand.

At the hand of humans, man, and at the hand of males and their brothers, will I require the life of man, humans.

At the hand of humans, At the hands of males, I'll require the, the blood of humans.

And even there it says A

holiness.

I require the life of man.

So he's not even saying the blood of man there at the hand of, man, I'll require the life of man.

So let me, I know I'm breaking this up a lot, but let me render this a little bit differently.

For I will require the blood of your souls, it's not blood of your lives, sanguinem animarum is blood of your souls, for I will require the blood of your souls at the hand of every beast and at the hand of every human being, at the hand of every male and of his brother will I require the life of human beings.

Well, what is he saying?

To be frank with you, I'm not really sure.

That needs more digging.

But he's saying more than meets the eye.

Whoever sheds the blood of man by the man, by, by man, his blood will be shed.

That is not what he's saying.

If you just took that literally on his face, that is not what he's saying.

If we look at the Vulgate, because there's a switch, there's a seesaw back and forth.

Between the general and the specific.

Between the spiritual and the corporeal.

There's a flipping and a flopping.

So what is proposed that the Lord is saying, I don't think that's what He's really saying.

In fact, I'm very confident that He's saying something else.

Something deeper.

What that is, that one would need more digging.

Maybe I'll do a part two to this.

I don't know.

And that, that is my opinion, that's, that is my opinion.

I am not a theologian.

I am very experienced in theology, very experienced in scriptural study, but I am not an expert in either of those.

So except this is my, sorry, looking at the wrong camera, except this is my opinion only.

Okay.

But my opinion, I'm very confident in saying this, the way this is rendered in many Bibles is not an adequate reflection of what we are seeing.

In the Vulgate.

It really is not.

Sometimes people will translate, you know, sounds like, uh, my family just came home.

Sometimes people will render it that way.

Sanguinam animadum animadum Veschanom.

Sometimes people will render that as lifeblood or the blood of your lives, but Mmm, I don't think so.

I really don't think that's what he's saying.

I forget now how you say.

Vita, right?

Is life in, in, in Latin.

He's not saying the blood of your vita or vitae.

He's not saying that.

He's saying the blood of your souls.

That's what we see in the Latin.

He's saying something deeper than the obvious.

So, and, and nothing against this person who sent this.

I'm glad that he sent it.

I always want more information.

I'm very glad that he sent it.

But I'm just saying, I don't see I don't know what the article he was alluding to is proposing, but if it's starting off with, by man shall his blood be shed, I'm sorry, you got a problem.

If you go into Genesis 9, 5, and 6, I'm sorry, from my perspective, from my point of view, you're going to shoot yourself in the foot.

Because I don't, I'm very confident in saying, that's not going to back you up.

Now, let me just check this live stream, make sure everything's still working.

Hey!

The guy who sent that comment is in the chat room.

I didn't even see.

Hello, I believe you may be muted.

Apologies if this is not the case.

I cannot hear your audio.

Uh oh.

There we go.

Fixed.

Okay, it was local.

It was local to him.

Thank God.

Uh, just popped in the chat room.

Um, and thank you for joining me, Alice.

I really appreciate you.

So everything appears to be working.

Thanks be to God.

How long has this been going on?

Let me see.

Because as I said, I'll be cut off.

Oh, I'm going to be cut off in like 10 seconds Okay, so that's going to draw this to a close I will keep doing this recording and I will put up the full version for paid members Okay, so if you're a paid member you're going to have access to this full version When I upload it, I'm going to talk about an article that kind of presents a premise for why the Pope's current catechesis is not new teaching.

Okay?

So, if

Okay, and there went my stream.

Hang on.

So let me talk about this article.

Oh, by the way, shoot.

I should have said this at the top of that stream.

I did a show An episode talking about the death penalty if you go to I think it's in my public podcast feed It is also on my website and just do a search for death penalty.

I've done a show on this already Um, I I think i'm covering it a little bit more thoroughly here But I cover it a little more simply there a little more fully But a little more simply, okay?

And in that, in there, I referenced this article.

Now, I have been saying what what I know about the church's teaching on the death penalty, which I said at the top of this broadcast, as far as I knew, started with Augustine.

So it goes at least as far back as Augustine.

Augustine did support the death penalty, right?

So most of what he wrote says that the death penalty is okay to protect an innocent human life.

But only in extreme cases.

He also says that.

Only in extreme cases.

Okay?

Now that we are able to put someone away for life, technology has changed, incarceration and prisons have changed, we don't need to kill someone in order to protect human life.

And that was something that Augustine alluded to.

Because there is no other way to guarantee the protection of human life, the death penalty is okay.

That's something I should have put at the top of the, uh, episode, but sorry.

So a couple of things I want to point out, I'll drop a link to this, um, in the description.

This is from us Catholic.

I don't know anything about this publication.

Um, they seem balanced to me.

I'm just going to read two paragraphs in the middle of the article.

Encyclicals like Pacham and Teddy's in 1963 and Humanae Vitae In 1968, as well as documents from the Second Vatican Council such as Gaudium et Spes, Joy and Hope, 1965, elevated a new appreciation of the infinite dignity of the human person vis a vis the authority of the state.

In the wake of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI quietly removed any allowance for the death penalty from the Holy See's own Code of Laws and the Vatican, uh, and the Vatican spoke out prophetically Executions in Francisco's, yeah, in Francisco Franco's Spain and Nikita Khrushchev's Soviet Union.

So if the death penalty is absolutely okay in extreme cases, why are they saying that?

Why has the Vatican, had the Vatican come out against the death penalty?

Why did the Vatican quietly remove the death penalty from its own, from its own code of laws?

Next paragraph.

It was, however, during the papacy of St.

John Paul II.

that the specifics of the Church's opposition to the death penalty crystallized.

as a young man in Poland, John Paul II, witnessed both Nazi these two elements of John Paul II's personal theology came together in his important 1995 encyclical Evangelium Gaudium, the Gospel of Life to form the Church's theological argument against the death penalty.

There, John Paul II maintained that the modern state, listen, the modern state has sufficient means to protect the community short of capital punishment.

I'm going to leave a link to this article and you can read it yourself, but this was supported by, um, Benedict XVI as well.

I'm just trying to save time here because I don't want to be here for a whole hour.

It's Sunday.

Okay.

Bye.

The point I'm getting at is this, if it's such a home run, that the death penalty is definitely okay, in extreme cases, okay?

Why is the modern church backing away from that?

Did the church get it wrong before?

No, the church did not get it wrong.

When we're talking about doctrine, on faith and morals, the church doesn't get it wrong.

So why is the church backing away?

The church isn't really backing away.

I'll use this example.

The church is not backing away from the teaching.

The church is issuing a revised catechesis based on changed circumstances or changed conditions.

The condition used to be it was impossible to guarantee the safety of the public.

There was no technology.

There were no, you know, rock solid prison cells.

Conditions have changed.

We now have the technology to imprison someone for the rest of their lives, right?

Conditions have changed.

So the catechesis is revised.

The teaching has not changed.

Taking innocent life is wrong, unless it's absolutely necessary.

Well, then that's the variable, whether or not it's necessary.

Right?

That's the variable.

Taking life is wrong unless it's absolutely necessary.

That there are no other options.

Well, that's the variable that changed.

Is it still necessary to take, you know, to execute a criminal, however dangerous?

Is it still necessary?

I'll leave you with this example.

It's a little bit of a silly example, but just go with me on this.

The church never taught that the world was flat, but this is just an example.

Let's say the church used to believe the world was flat, the earth was flat, right?

The church might have had a catechesis that stated it's immoral and wrong.

For any, anyone to travel to any one of the four corners of the earth because you could upset aquatic life there.

And they have no, the aquatic life would have no place to escape to because they're at the corners of the globe.

And so, out of respect for nature, let's just say you're doing it for sport.

You're just doing it to agitate the fish and the, you know, the aquatic life down there.

You're not doing it for food.

You're just doing it for sport and to aggravate the fish.

Well, that's wrong.

So.

It is a sin to travel to any one of the four corners of the globe, because of what happens to aquatic life when you do that.

Now fast forward.

Now the church has updated its knowledge.

We now know the earth is not flat.

We now know the earth is round.

It is still a sin to unjustly upset aquatic life.

Unjustly.

And we're not talking about for food.

We're talking about unjustly.

It is still a sin, but It is no, now you can go anywhere you want on the earth.

There are no restrictions on travel throughout the earth.

Why?

Because our understanding of the earth has changed.

The principle did not change.

The catechesis associated with the principle has.

Why?

Because conditions have changed.

Knowledge has changed.

Or in this case, with prisons, with incarceration and imprisonment, prisons have changed.

The penal system has changed.

Technology has changed.

The conditions have changed.

So the catechesis has to be revised.

Or I don't even like the word rise refreshed maybe So that's all I've got for you

You may still think the the Pope changed teaching on the death penalty I Folks listen you can think whatever you want.

I'm just telling you what I think or what I know.

Here's what I know The church the Pope's teaching on the death penalty is how I always understood the death penalty Since I was a teenager a young teenager It's how I always understood the death penalty.

Always, always.

And I was truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly shocked that anybody thought that this was a change of teaching.

I did not realize that the way I understood, the way I understood the death penalty is not commonly how people, how other people understand it.

Some people do, but most people do not.

From my point of view, this is not a change of doctrine.

I understand.

Why the Pope's catechesis is what it is, as far as I know, it reflects what the teaching always has been.

We flip flop priorities, right?

In other words, if there's no other way to protect the population.

It used to be in the background because it was just understood.

There's no guarantee that a person in a prison, there's no guarantee they won't escape and kill again.

We just kept that in the background because that was just understood.

That you can't possibly incarcerate somebody for the rest of their lives.

That someone will be able to break them out, they'll be able to escape, whatever.

So that was, that part was just kept in the background.

But that has changed.

And so now that part that used to be in the background has been moved to the foreground.

We can incarcerate someone for the rest of their lives.

And therefore there's no justification for killing them, for executing them.

My brothers and sisters you can think whatever you want and god bless you go in peace.

I'm just telling you the way I see it And I and if you still think The death penalty is okay.

All right.

I I don't agree and go in peace.

That's all right Just make sure you still believe in god and you still go to mass and all that stuff What what you what you believe about the death penalty, you know go in peace You know, that's fine It's wrong, my opinion, but it's incorrect.

That's what I mean.

I don't mean wrong in moral.

I mean, wrong.

Incorrect.

It's wrong, but okay.

Whatever you want to do.

Let me get out of here.

This has been a special broadcast.

You know what I'll do?

Maybe I'll just make the whole thing available.

Because I didn't go much longer.

Maybe I'll make the whole thing available to everybody who wants to watch this.

This has been the Catholic Adventure.

I'm talking about the death penalty.

Because I have nothing better to do with my life.

Thank you for joining me.

Thank you for signing up for locals.

You're lucky y'all could, this is only going on locals.

I'm not sharing this on my podcast catalog or anything.

So you guys are very lucky.

God bless you.

God be with you all signing out of here.

Bye bye.