H/T The Blaze
There is one thing that I would like to point out. "Until natural death" doesn't mean that the Church is against the death penalty. The Catholic Church has never been against capital punishment. The latest evolving view which states that cases where the public safety warrants the execution of the offender should be rare or nonexistent did not come into being until very recently. The Church's position on the death penalty is not as clear and concise as those who would claim demonstrably that the Catholic Church is adamantly against the death penalty. That is hogwash. There is definitive doctrinal teaching against abortion but not the death penalty.
From Wikipedia:
Paul J. Surlis writes that Church teaching on the death penalty has been in transition.[1] The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the death penalty is permissible in cases of extreme gravity. The Church teaches that capital punishment is allowed if the "guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined" and if the death penalty is the only way to defend others against the guilty party.
However, if there are other means available to defend people from the "unjust aggressor", these means are preferred to the death penalty because they are considered to be more respectful of the dignity of the person and in keeping with the common good.[2](2267)Because today's society makes possible effective means for preventing crime without execution, the Catechism declares that "the cases in which execution of the offender is an absolute necessity 'are very rare, if practically nonexistent.'"[2]
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