Can the Pope Change Church Doctrine on Capital Punishment? Short Answer: NO!

We live in an era of papal confusion. Every time Pope Francis opens his mouth he throws a grenade at the faithful in the pews leaving chaos and flying shrapnel that obscures the teaching of the Church. On the one hand he will say something in conformity with Church doctrine; the next minute he acts in a way that contradicts what he just said. And then, refusing to clarify, he lets the confusion batter the faithful. One prudent friend said she just doesn't listen to him any more. What a situation for a Catholic where Peter, the chief teacher, bound to teach, govern, and sanctify has become a champion of confusion.  Pope Francis recently lobbed a grenade by saying that capital punishment is never admissible. That is a CHANGE in a perennial Church doctrine; not a development, not a clarification -- a break with past teaching. The papal posse on EWTN raises many troubling questions about the pope's actions in the video below. Raymond Arroyo observes that convicted murderers sometimes escape from prison killing more people in the process and gives examples of recent cases. How does that uphold the dignity and rights of their victims? It's a question that has always prevented me from jumping on the anti-death penalty wagon. How are prisoners and guards to be protected from homicidal psychopaths? Are their lives not worth protecting? How many murders does a criminal get before society can protect itself?




There is another troubling question that needs to be aired. Is the philosophy behind this limited to the death penalty? Doesn't the pope CHANGING doctrine open the door to CHANGING other doctrines? If the perennial teaching of the Church on the right of the state to defend its people through the use of capital punishment is now "inadmissible," what OTHER doctrines are up for grabs? The papal posse brings that point up. So does Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute. He was ridiculed, but New Ways Ministry, the gay advocacy dissent group condemned by the USCCB, saw the link immediately and claimed that the alteration in the catechism on the death penalty proves that "Church teaching can change."

Sorry, Charlie. Popes can't change the perennial doctrines laid down by Christ.

So the  question for me looms ever larger: Is Pope Francis a legitimate pope? Or are we in another age of papal confusion where an anti-pope rivaled the legitimate successor of Peter. Bishop Rene Gracida, retired bishop of Corpus Christi raises this question in an open letter to the bishops of the world and the Catholic faithful. Is Pope Francis the authentic pope:

Bishop Rene Gracida,
a voice in the wilderness

Claiming heresy on the part of a man who is a supposed Pope, charging material error in statements about faith or morals by a putative Roman Pontiff, suggests and presents an intervening prior question about his authenticity in that August office of Successor of Peter as Chief of The Apostles, i.e., was this man the subject of a valid election by an authentic Conclave of The Holy Roman Church? This is so because each Successor of Saint Peter enjoys the Gift of Infallibility.

So, before one even begins to talk about excommunicating such a prelate, one must logically examine whether this person exhibits the uniformly good and safe fruit of Infallibility. If he seems repeatedly to engage in material error, that first raises the question of the validity of his election because one expects an authentically-elected Roman Pontiff miraculously and uniformly to be entirely incapable of stating error in matters of faith or morals. So to what do we look to discern the invalidity of such an election? His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, within His massive legacy to the Church and to the World, left us with the answer to this question. The Catholic faithful must look back for an answer to a point from where we have come—to what occurred in and around the Sistine Chapel in March 2013 and how the fruits of those events have generated such widespread concern among those people of magisterial orthodoxy about confusing and, or, erroneous doctrinal statements which emanate from The Holy See.

We are in serious times -- the most serious I believe since the Arian heresy. Let us pray and fast for the Holy Spirit to raise up saints like Athanasius to protect and defend the faith. I urge you to read Bishop Gracida's letter. And here are more articles related to the crisis of the pope's change in doctrine on capital punishment and why it is so significant.

 Why the Church Cannot Reverse Past Teaching on Capital Punishment

Pope Francis and the Death Penalty (This article illustrates the abject confusion!)

Roberto de Mattei: Is the Death Penalty Intrinsically Evil?

What Catholics Are Missing in the Death Penalty Debate

LGBT ‘Catholic’ groups: If Pope can reverse Church teaching on death penalty, why not homosexuality?