What abortion is to American Catholics, the death penalty is for Italians
John Allen is witnessing different emphases in the “consistent ethic of life” between American and Italian Catholics:
What struck me was how often our host, Massimo Franco, a well-known Italian journalist, as well our listeners raised an issue that barely registered on American radar screens during the pope’s trip: the death penalty. Why, Franco and the listeners wanted to know, didn’t Benedict XVI make more of an issue out of the difference between the United States, particularly the Bush administration, and the Catholic Church on the issue of capital punishment?
It was Burke who put into words something I’ve long sensed, and that became especially clear during the course of our conversation this morning: For many Italian Catholics, and perhaps Catholics in other European countries as well, the death penalty is what abortion is for many Catholics in the United States – the defining moral issue of the time.
That is to say, if the dominant “single issue” temptation for American Catholics is to focus almost exclusively on abortion, the analogous “single issue” tendency within Catholicism in Italy and elsewhere in Europe is the death penalty
One Comment
Yes,it was Jesus on that cross..he had forgiven the so called good thief..did Jesus then yell down to the Roman executioners “hey fellas, I just forgave this guy,release him!” NO,he let the state punishment go on. We ‘Italians’ do not speak with one voice on many issues.thats why we are so attacked by the establishment..more then any other group.racial or ethnic,,re: god father and sopranos nonsense!!!!I have never heard of a convicted admitted murderer coming back after being legally punished and murdering again! And if a bartender can be held accountable for giving a drunk that one last drink,and that drunk goes out and kills someone,what of a member of the jury who’s vote placed a murderer behind bars who then killed a guard..after all he cant be hurt more then what he is..and anyway our poor convicts get better food,clothing,room and board then 17% of the worlds population..and gym and library facilities to boot…Nin