The Church, the Death Penalty, and the Galactic Emperor

The politics of American political landscape does not offer a one-size-fit for Catholics who wish to adhere to the entirety of what the Church proposes.  Politically “progressive” Catholics often subjugate their faith to politics on matters of abortion, euthanasia, and the natural family. On the other hand, politically “conservative” Catholics often feel a similar temptation in regard to the death penalty.

The Church’s stance on capital punishment is nuanced, but it generally stands in opposition to its use.  This led to a question from one my friends:

Would the Church condone capital punishment for Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars?

That's what we'll look at today.

Swords Aren’t for Spanking:

First, let's cover some background on the official Catholic Church teaching.

There is one New Testament passage which directly addresses the death penalty.  It is found toward the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Having concluded his long discourse on the history of salvation, he turns to more mundane affairs.  Paul implores his readers to obey legitimate governmental authorities, saying:

“Do you wish to have no fear of the authority?  Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; for it is God’s servant for your good.  But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain!  It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.  Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.” – Romans 13:3-5

Paul reminds his audience that the State has the role of punishing crimes.  And he specifically notes that these authorities bear the “sword”.  Well… with one notable exception … swords are not for spanking.  Thus, it would seem that Paul envisions the State as having a legitimate authority to exact the death penalty.

(Which is a heck of a thing, considering Paul was eventually executed by the very sword he describes in this passage.)

Last Resort Only:

So the State may have the authority to execute criminals – but that doesn't mean it would be justified in executing people for any reason whatsoever.  It would be pretty disproportionate to execute a shoplifter. 

That’s where the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes a vital distinction. It acknowledges the State's prerogative to execute criminals, but tightly restrains instances where it is licit.

It reads:

“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 to 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 definitely 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 nonexistent." – CCC 2267

In other words, the Church essentially rejects capital punishment as a punishment  for wrongdoing.  Instead, it only permits the State to execute someone if it is absolutely necessary to protect the public.

And in the days of modern penitentiaries it is difficult to imagine such a scenario...



The Palpatine Case:

... Which brings us back to Emperor Palpatine.  Not only is the fella completely evil, he has an impressive list of Force-enabled superpowers.  Those include:

• Telekenesis
• Mind control
• Force lightening
• Seeing the future
• Superhuman strength
• Superhuman speed

With that in mind, what prison could possibly hold him?  The guy is so dangerous that you'd pretty much have to kill him on sight to keep the public safe.  (And even that would be difficult)

So yes, you could execute the Emperor.

Back to Earth:

But maybe there could be more down-to-earth examples.

Imagine a criminal mastermind with a nearly limitless stash of money, a genius intellect, and the persistent desire to cause harm.  He corrupts everyone he meets through bribery and intimidation.  Sending him to prison has proven insufficient to protect society from him because he inevitably takes over the place.

I am speaking, of course, of Wilson Fisk - the Kingpin.

Or perhaps imagine a criminal psychopath.  He is an unpredictable murderer and master tactician with a talent for escaping prisons.  Every time he escapes captivity, he never fails to add more to his bodycount before finally being caught again.

One could rightly ask... how many people would still be alive in Gotham if the Joker had been executed early on?

Not Banned, But Mostly Banned:

Let's wrap this up. 

The whole purpose of this exercise is to show that you'd have to imagine something pretty outlandish to justify the Catholic Church's criteria for the just use of capital punishment.

Many see it as a just punishment for particularly heinous crimes - and maybe it is - but the Church sees things with a different perspective.  The Church is in the business of saving souls.  So it wants to give every possible opportunity to criminals that they might repent and come to Christ.

... but that calculus changes when you can shoot lightening out your fingers.