Why the about face on capital punishment?

[Don Schneider]

I’m sure this has already been asked, but being new here I shall pose the question, probably again.

Why the about face on capital punishment by Rome during the reign of the last prior pontiff? Aside from the well known Biblical support for it, at least three Doctors of the Church that I know of have written upholding its morality: St. Augustine; St. Thomas Aquinas; and St Alphonse Liquori, three theological heavyweights to be sure.

To be named a Doctor of the Church means that the candidate’s theological writings have been reviewed by the Magisterium and pronounced free of error. Since it is dogma that the Church as an institution is indefectible, then why is it not heresy for even a pope to question that which has already been decided on such a basis? Is this not denying the indefectibility of Holy Mother Church?

Don Schneider

[Devon Caffran]

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