Note taken

Michael P. links here to John Allen's Jan. 5 installment of "All Things Catholic," in which Allen contends that the reactions of Vatican spokesperson's to Hussein's execution "collectively mark a milestone in the evolution of yet another category in Catholic teaching:  Positions which are not absolute in principle, but which are increasingly absolute in practice."  I imagine Allen is correct in supposing that, in the future, we can expect the Holy See's spokespersons, and the various Bishops' conferences, to oppose all executions and all wars.  (Whether their opposition will, in all cases, rest on convincing arguments is, I suppose, a question about which we'll have to wait and see.)  And, I imagine Justice Scalia might take some comfort in Allen's observation that:

The fact that neither the death penalty nor war (for reasons other than what John Paul called "humanitarian intervention") are considered "ontic" evils probably means there will always be room for differing opinions in the church about the extent to which existing circumstances render them justifiable.

Finally, although Michael and I agree that the death penalty ought to be abolished (legislatively), I continue to think that the position set out in the Catechism, and in Evangelium vitae is unsatisfying.  As Allen writes:

The church's teaching on both the death penalty and on war is rooted in its doctrine on self-defense: If someone intends to kill you, you're entitled to defend yourself, including lethal force if that's the only option. By way of extension, if the only way to protect innocent people in society from aggressors, whether criminals or invading armies, is to use lethal force, then that does not constitute "murder."

The problem is, as I see it, that the Church's teaching on capital punishment, until very recently, was not separated in this way from the Church's teachings on punishment.  And, punishment is not about self-defense, but about justified retribution.  If a criminal is killed by the state in "self defense", then -- it seems to me -- we are not talking about "punishment" at all.