The trial is over. A man has been convicted of murdering a child, and now the court must decide whether he lives or dies. The child's mother has not slept through the night in months. Her pastor tells her that Genesis 9:6 settles the question. Her Catholic neighbor tells her the Catholic Church now calls the death penalty "inadmissible."
Both are quoting something real. So which is it? Did the Catholic Church change her teaching? Can she?
Here is exactly what she teaches, and why it is true.
Short answer: The Catholic Church teaches that "the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person," and she "works with determination for its abolition worldwide" (CCC 2267, as revised in 2018). She does not deny that Scripture, the Fathers, and earlier editions of the Catechism admitted the death penalty under certain conditions, and she still teaches that the state must punish crime and protect its citizens. The Magisterium calls the revision "an authentic development of doctrine that is not in contradiction with the prior teachings of the Magisterium" (Letter to Bishops 8). The reason is the person, whose dignity "is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes" (CCC 2267).
Key verses on the death penalty
- "So the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one would kill him at sight." (Genesis 4:15)
- "Anyone who sheds the blood of a human being, by a human being shall that one's blood be shed; For in the image of God have human beings been made." (Genesis 9:6)
- "for it is a servant of God for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose; it is the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evildoer." (Romans 13:4)
- "As I live—oracle of the Lord GOD—I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live." (Ezekiel 33:11)
- "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Protestants, Critics, and Others Believe
"The Bible commands it." Many Protestants, and for most of history most Christians, have held that capital punishment for murder is not only allowed but just. Their strongest text is Genesis 9:6. It was given to Noah, long before Moses, so it binds all humanity, not just Israel. Its reason is the image of God: murder is so grave that the murderer forfeits his own life. The Law of Moses agrees: "Whoever strikes someone a mortal blow must be put to death" (Exodus 21:12). And St. Paul says the state "does not bear the sword without purpose" (Romans 13:4).
The Reformation confessions say so plainly. The Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles (1562, confirmed 1571) state: "The Laws of the Realm may punish Christian men with death, for heinous and grievous offences" (Article XXXVII). The Westminster Larger Catechism excepts "public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense" from the killing forbidden by the sixth commandment, the fifth in Catholic numbering (Q. 136).
"Justice demands it." Some secular thinkers argue that certain crimes deserve death and that the penalty deters. Others answer that courts make mistakes, and no execution can be undone.
"The Catholic Church contradicted herself." Some Catholics raise the sharpest objection of all. St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, centuries of popes, and the Catechism itself until 2018 admitted the death penalty in principle. If the Catholic Church can now call "inadmissible" what she once allowed, they ask, what can she not change?
What Catholics Actually Teach
The text. On May 11, 2018, Pope Francis approved a new text of paragraph 2267 of the Catechism, to be "inserted in all the editions of the aforementioned Catechism" (Rescript ex Audientia, published August 2, 2018). It reads in full:
"Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good. Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, 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', and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide" (CCC 2267, quoting Pope Francis, Address of October 11, 2017).
What it means. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith explained: "The new text, following the footsteps of the teaching of John Paul II in Evangelium vitæ, affirms that ending the life of a criminal as punishment for a crime is inadmissible because it attacks the dignity of the person, a dignity that is not lost even after having committed the most serious crimes" (Letter to Bishops 7, August 1, 2018). In 2024 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith repeated it: "Here, one should also mention the death penalty, for this also violates the inalienable dignity of every person, regardless of the circumstances" (Dignitas Infinita 34).
Punishment and protection remain. This is not leniency toward crime. "Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime"; "the primary scope of the penalty is to redress the disorder caused by the offense"; and punishment "has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender" (CCC 2266). "Certainly, it remains the duty of public authorities to defend the life of citizens, as has always been taught by the Magisterium and is confirmed by the Catechism of the Catholic Church in numbers 2265 and 2266" (Letter to Bishops 7).
How the Catholic Church got here. In 1995 Pope St. John Paul II taught that punishment "ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society," and "as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent" (Evangelium Vitae 56). In 1999 he called the death penalty "both cruel and unnecessary" (quoted in Letter to Bishops 4). The 2018 text completes that line of teaching.
Mercy for everyone this touches. If someone you love was murdered, the Catholic Church does not ask you to pretend. "It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession" (CCC 2843). Bring that grief to a priest; you do not carry it alone. If you have committed a grave crime: "There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive" (CCC 982). Ask a prison chaplain or a parish priest for Confession. Christ says, "in prison and you visited me" (Matthew 25:36). "It is also fitting to reaffirm the dignity of those who are incarcerated, who often must live in undignified conditions" (Dignitas Infinita 34).
What Catholics do not teach:
- That crime should go unpunished: the state has "the right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime" (CCC 2266).
- That Scripture erred, or that the earlier teaching was a contradiction now reversed (Letter to Bishops 8; see objection (c)).
- That murder is a lesser evil, or that victims matter less than the guilty.
- That any criminal, however guilty, is beyond God's forgiveness (CCC 982).
It all points to Christ. Jesus Christ was Himself sentenced to death by the state, and from His Cross He promised Paradise to a condemned criminal (Luke 23:43). He "came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15), murderers included. The Catholic Church will not treat any human life as beyond the reach of His Cross, because she has seen what He did with a thief in his last hour.
The Biblical Case
Scripture never says, "The death penalty is inadmissible." It gives the state the sword, and the Law of Moses commanded death for murder. But it also reveals the truths the Catholic Church now applies, and she applies them with Christ's authority. He told His disciples, "Whoever listens to you listens to me" (Luke 10:16), and promised that the Spirit "will guide you to all truth" (John 16:13; see Is the Church the Pillar and Foundation of Truth?).
1. Every human being bears God's image, and crime does not erase it
"God created mankind in his image" (Genesis 1:27). Genesis 9:6 itself gives the reason bloodshed is so grave: "For in the image of God have human beings been made." That image belongs to the murderer as well as to his victim. St. James warns against cursing "human beings who are made in the likeness of God" (James 3:9), with no exception for the guilty. That is the root of CCC 2267.
2. God protected the first murderer
After Cain killed Abel, God said, "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground!" (Genesis 4:10). He punished Cain with exile (4:12), yet "the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one would kill him at sight" (4:15). Pope St. John Paul II drew the lesson: "Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this" (Evangelium Vitae 9).
3. God spared a repentant murderer
Nathan confronted King David: "You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword" (2 Samuel 12:9). Under the Law, murder carried death (Exodus 21:12). David confessed, and Nathan answered: "For his part, the LORD has removed your sin. You shall not die" (2 Samuel 12:13). Grave consequences still followed (12:14), but God Himself chose life for a murderer who repented.
4. God wants the wicked to turn and live
"I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live" (Ezekiel 33:11). The Lord is "not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). The Catholic Church draws the same conclusion: the Gospel "invites us to the mercy and patience of the Lord that gives to each person the time to convert oneself" (Letter to Bishops 9).
5. The man who approved a killing became an apostle
St. Paul confessed: "when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself stood by giving my approval" (Acts 22:20). Yet he received mercy "so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example" (1 Timothy 1:16). A man complicit in a killing became an apostle.
6. At the Cross, a condemned criminal entered Paradise
Scripture does not hide the good thief's guilt. He said so himself: "we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes" (Luke 23:41). Then he prayed, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom," and heard, "today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42–43). The court saw a criminal fit only to die; Christ saw a soul for Paradise. No human judge can see that far, so the Catholic Church will not treat any criminal as beyond redemption.
7. Christ's mercy does not deny sin; it calls the sinner home
The woman caught in adultery (John 8:1–11) must be read with care. The NABRE notes that the passage is "missing from all early Greek manuscripts," and also that "The Catholic Church accepts this passage as canonical scripture." It is not a ruling on criminal law: the question was put "to test him" (8:6), and Jesus never said her sin was nothing. It reveals His heart: "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her" (8:7). Then: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more" (8:11). Mercy that leaves room for conversion is the pattern the Catholic Church follows, for "mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).
Objections Answered
(a) "Genesis 9:6 is a command for all humanity, given before Moses. No one can cancel it."
At its strongest: The covenant with Noah binds every nation, and its reason, the image of God, never expires. Justice requires life for life.
Answer: The same instruction to Noah says, "Only meat with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat" (Genesis 9:4), and Christians do not generally treat that verse as binding on them today. What endures is the principle the Catechism draws from Genesis 9:5–6: "The Old Testament always considered blood a sacred sign of life. This teaching remains necessary for all time" (CCC 2260). The reason Genesis gives, the image of God, is present in the murderer too, and God Himself showed mercy to murderers: He protected Cain, and later spared David.
(b) "Romans 13:4 says the state bears the sword. St. Paul even said some crimes deserve death."
At its strongest: St. Paul told Festus, "If I have committed a crime or done anything deserving death, I do not seek to escape the death penalty" (Acts 25:11). The Church cannot forbid what the Apostle accepted.
Answer: The Catholic Church agrees that the state's authority comes from God and that it must punish and protect (Letter to Bishops 7; CCC 2265–2266). St. Paul accepted the Roman law of his day, then appealed to Caesar rather than be handed over. Neither verse says that a society able to protect itself by other means must kill. Scripture establishes the authority to punish; the question of which penalties respect the person is one the Catholic Church has the authority to answer (1 Timothy 3:15).
(c) "The Catholic Church taught for centuries that the death penalty is legitimate. Calling it 'inadmissible' is a contradiction."
At its strongest: St. Augustine, writing of just war and of magistrates, said that those who "have represented in their persons the public justice or the wisdom of government, and in this capacity have put to death wicked men; such persons have by no means violated the commandment, 'You shall not kill'" (City of God 1.21). St. Thomas Aquinas taught that "if a man be dangerous and infectious to the community, on account of some sin, it is praiseworthy and advantageous that he be killed in order to safeguard the common good" (Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 64, a. 2). The Catechism's 1997 Latin typical edition allowed it if it was "the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor" (quoted in Letter to Bishops 3). Pope Francis himself admitted that "even in the Papal States recourse was had to this extreme and inhumane remedy" (Address, October 11, 2017). How can that now be "inadmissible"?
Answer: The Magisterium answers directly. The earlier teachings "can be explained in the light of the primary responsibility of the public authority to protect the common good in a social context in which the penal sanctions were understood differently, and had developed in an environment in which it was more difficult to guarantee that the criminal could not repeat his crime" (Letter to Bishops 8). The 1997 text itself did not present the death penalty "as a proportionate penalty for the gravity of the crime" (3); it allowed it only as a last defense.
What did not change: human life is sacred, the state must punish, and it must protect the innocent. What developed is the Catholic Church's grasp of how far human dignity reaches. St. Thomas wrote that a sinner "falls away from the dignity of his manhood, in so far as he is naturally free, and exists for himself" (II-II, q. 64, a. 2, ad 3). Dignitas Infinita distinguishes "the moral dignity that de facto can be 'lost' and the ontological dignity that can never be annulled" (7). One strong reading: St. Thomas was describing the moral dignity a criminal forfeits, and the Catholic Church now makes explicit that the dignity which never leaves him is the one that governs how he may be punished.
St. Vincent of Lérins asked the same question in the fifth century: "Shall there, then, be no progress in Christ's Church? Certainly; all possible progress. … Yet on condition that it be real progress, not alteration of the faith" (Commonitory 23). The Magisterium presents the revision as development in continuity: the same truth about the person now yields a firmer conclusion (see What Is Sacred Tradition?).
(d) "It's only a prudential judgment. Catholics are free to disagree."
At its strongest: Before 2018 many Catholics held that the death penalty, unlike abortion, was a matter on which the faithful could differ. The revision is not an infallible definition.
Answer: It is not an ex cathedra definition. But the Catechism says "the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel" (CCC 2267), and the Congregation calls it a development of "Catholic doctrine" (Letter to Bishops 7). The Second Vatican Council teaches: "This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra" (Lumen Gentium 25). A Catholic may not treat CCC 2267 as one opinion among many. How best to reform prisons and laws remains a matter for prudence.
(e) "Prison is no justice for victims, and some killers stay dangerous."
At its strongest: Grieving families deserve justice. Some murderers kill again behind bars.
Answer: The Catholic Church does not make society choose between victims and criminals. Punishment remains a "right and duty" (CCC 2266), and defense of the innocent remains a "grave duty" (CCC 2265). Her reasoning rests on detention that can "ensure the due protection of citizens" (CCC 2267). St. Augustine asked for exactly this in AD 412, on behalf of men who had killed a priest: "Not, of course, that we object to the removal from these wicked men of the liberty to perpetrate further crimes; but our desire is rather that justice be satisfied without the taking of their lives" (Letter 133). And God does not dismiss the victim's cry: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Romans 12:19).
The Early Church Agrees
- Athenagoras (A Plea for the Christians 35, c. AD 177): On the arena's gladiators and wild beasts: "But we, deeming that to see a man put to death is much the same as killing him, have abjured such spectacles" (ccel.org). Christians refused to treat a human death as cheap.
- Lactantius (Divine Institutes 6.20, AD 303–311): "Therefore, with regard to this precept of God, there ought to be no exception at all; but that it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be a sacred animal" (ccel.org). He went further than the Catholic Church goes, even forbidding a just man "to engage in warfare," but his ground is hers: man is sacred.
- St. Augustine (Letter 133 to Marcellinus, AD 412): Pleading for the lives of men who had killed a priest: "Fulfil, Christian judge, the duty of an affectionate father; let your indignation against their crimes be tempered by considerations of humanity" (newadvent.org). The bishop who granted the state's sword still begged a judge not to use it.
- St. Vincent of Lérins (Commonitory 23, AD 434): True progress keeps the faith "in the same doctrine, in the same sense, and in the same meaning" (ccel.org). This is the test the 2018 revision meets: the same truth about the person, more fully seen.
The Fathers did not speak with one voice about the state's sword; many, St. Augustine among them, granted it. But they agree on what today's teaching rests on: human life is sacred, and Christians plead for mercy.
Conclusion
The Catholic Church does not hide her history, and she does not soften her teaching. She still demands just punishment and real protection for the innocent. But Scripture shows God guarding Cain, sparing David, converting St. Paul, and opening Paradise to a condemned thief. Every criminal remains a person made in God's image, for whom Christ died.
Come home. The Church whose bishop St. Augustine pleaded with a judge for the lives of murderers in AD 412, and who pleads for them still, is the Catholic Church. Christ did not found many churches. He founded one, on St. Peter and the apostles (Matthew 16:18), and that Church is the Catholic Church. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). If you are a baptized Christian, you already share "a certain, although imperfect, communion" with her (CCC 838). Every truth you already hold is a call to the rest of the way. If you are not yet a Christian, we invite you to come and see. Christ is calling you into the Catholic Church.
Your next step: Come to Mass this Sunday at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. Everyone is welcome; if you're not yet Catholic, pray with us but don't receive Communion yet. When you're ready to become Catholic, call the parish office and ask about OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. They will walk you through every step. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.
FAQ
Does the Catholic Church call the death penalty intrinsically evil? CCC 2267 does not use that phrase. Its word is "inadmissible," "because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person," and Dignitas Infinita 34 says it "violates the inalienable dignity of every person, regardless of the circumstances."
Can police or soldiers still use lethal force? Yes, to defend life. "Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life" (CCC 2265). CCC 2267 concerns killing a criminal as punishment.
Someone I love was murdered. Must I stop wanting justice? No. Punishment is a "right and duty" of public authority (CCC 2266). Forgiveness is not forgetting; a heart offered to the Holy Spirit "turns injury into compassion" (CCC 2843). Ask your parish priest to walk with you.
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Genesis 1:27; Genesis 4:10–15; Genesis 9:4–6; Exodus 21:12; 2 Samuel 12:9–14; Ezekiel 33:11; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 25:36; Luke 10:16; Luke 23:41–43; John 8:1–11 (with the NABRE note on 7:53–8:11); John 16:13; Acts 22:20; Acts 25:11; Romans 12:19; Romans 13:4; 1 Timothy 1:15–16; 1 Timothy 3:15; James 2:13; James 3:9; 2 Peter 3:9.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 816, 838; 982; 2260, 2265, 2266, 2267; 2843.
Church documents: Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium (November 21, 1964), 25; Pope St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (March 25, 1995), 9, 56; Pope St. John Paul II, Laetamur Magnopere (August 15, 1997), promulgating the Latin typical edition of the Catechism; Pope Francis, Address to Participants in the Meeting Organized by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization (October 11, 2017); Rescript ex Audientia SS.mi on the new revision of number 2267 of the Catechism (published August 2, 2018); Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops Regarding the New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty (August 1, 2018); Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas Infinita (April 2, 2024), 7, 34.
Church Fathers: Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 35; Lactantius, Divine Institutes 6.20; St. Augustine, City of God 1.21 and Letter 133; St. Vincent of Lérins, Commonitory 23.
Other sources: St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 64, a. 2; Church of England, Articles of Religion (Thirty-Nine Articles), Article XXXVII; Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. 136.