Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
(Genesis 9:1-13; Mark 8:27-33)
When Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy Seals, there
was no outcry from Catholic hierarchy. Pope Benedict must have recognized the legitimacy
of the execution even though there was never a trial. Taking alive bin Laden, whose guilt for mass
murder was widely recognized, and putting him on trial would have surely
resulted in violent outbursts around the world.
The incident provides the exception that proves the rule for the Church’s
opposition to capital punishment.
Following today’s passage from Genesis, the Church does
not deny the validity of capital punishment when a life has been unjustly
taken. It also notes, however, that
there are an inordinate number of innocent lives taken today, especially by
procured abortions. To bolster its affirmation
of life, then, Pope St. John Paul II and his two successors have taught that
the state should never execute a human being except in extraordinary situations
like bin Laden’s arrest.
We need to constantly reassert our support of life. We should be participating in the campaigns abortion,
capital punishment, and euthanasia. We
might also check our appetite for violence in entertainment. If we relish viewing wanton slaughter, we are
abetting the culture of death which will inevitably hurt those whom we love.
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