When the "development of doctrine" fetish hits...

"If capital punishment is wrong in principle, then the Church has for two millennia consistently taught grave moral error and badly misinterpreted scripture. And if the Church has been so wrong for so long about something so serious, then there is no teaching that might not be reversed, with the reversal justified by the stipulation that it be called a 'development' rather than a contradiction. A reversal on capital punishment is the thin end of a wedge that, if pushed through, could sunder Catholic doctrine from its past—and thus give the lie to the claim that the Church has preserved the Deposit of Faith whole and undefiled."

-- "Pope Francis and Capital Punishment" by Edward Feser (3 August 2018) 

If you weren't interested in the counter-narrative, you wouldn't be reading this blog. So, for reference, the Vatican used to have its own public executioner, Giovanni Battista Bugatti, and yet it was somehow the seat of the Vicar of Christ. Funny how that works, innit? 

"Free Mumia Christ!"

"And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed him, saying: 'If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.' But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: 'Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil.' 

"Whereupon the first robber answered him, saying: 'AKTCHUALLY, the death penalty is per se contrary to the message of this guy in the middle, and is inadmissible as an affront to the inviolability of human dignity, mmkay?'"

-- The Gospel of Loss 23:39-41

Orestes Brownson? More like Neo-Restes Brownson!

How fitting that I get a chance to return to an earlier post of mine, thanks to the latest gyration of Pope Francis's abysmal papacy!

"[As a Catholic,] I owe obedience to the Pope only insofar as the spiritual head of my Church. Nevertheless, I have maintained and maintain that this spiritual authority extends to the morality of temporal things, in so far and only in so far, as they are spiritually related or have a spiritual character; that is, so far as they have a right to pronounce for the Catholic conscience, whether they do or do not conform to the law of God; for the Pope as the head of the Church is the interpreter and judge for Catholics of the divine law, natural or revealed. ... [Oh, and by the way:] The Pope [prior to 2018] has recognized the [death penalty] as compatible with the law of God...."

-- Orestes Brownson, 8 October 1855

Pope Boxwine the Nth

SHOT:

"Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God."

- The Lord (Genesis 9:2)

 "Dankgebet nach Verlassen der Arche Noah", D. Morelli, Öl auf Leinwand, 27,5 x 40 cm (za. 1901)

CHASER:

"It must be clearly stated that the death penalty is an inhumane measure that, regardless of how it is carried out, abases human dignity. It is per se contrary to the Gospel, because it entails the willful suppression of a human life that never ceases to be sacred in the eyes of its Creator...."

- Papa Franzia

Name! That! Anglican!

"It must be clearly stated that the death penalty is an inhumane measure that, regardless of how it is carried out, abases human dignity. It is per se contrary to the Gospel, because it entails the willful suppression of a human life that never ceases to be sacred in the eyes of its Creator".