It's a common refrain now, to hear the Democrats complain about how the Catholic Church is not denying communion to politicians who support the death penalty. It's a red herring, intended to distract from the abortion issue, where the church's position is well-known and solid.
What is the Church's view on the death penalty? It's not what the detractors are saying. I went out and bought the Catechism of the Catholic Church so I could look it up (among other things). Here's what it says:
Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm--without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself--the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically non-existent."
In short, the death penalty should be a legal option for the state, but rarely used. The Church's detractors are not speaking truthfully. The Catholic Church is justified in its stance.