An Open Letter to Pope Francis

Your Holiness,

I am writing to you as a concerned member of the laity. I feel that more and more you are guilty of
expressing your opinions which may be contrary to the authentic teaching of the Church. I am not
saying in any form that you do not have a right to these opinions, but I am stating that as the Pope it is
not your job to give the faithful your opinion on a matter it is your job to tell us what the churches
teaching is. I want to point out instances of this happening, and then ask for you to officially state the
teaching of the church not your opinion to dispel any confusion or conflict within the Church your
previous statements have caused. Please understand that I am not making myself out to be a moral
authority, but that I am speaking as a concern of the laity that you are called to lead. As a result I would
posit it is your responsibility to clarify these statements to fix any division you can. Even if you disagree
and believe it is in fact the members of the Church making incorrect interpretations of your statements
that is the problem it still would be true that you could end this confusion if you wanted to and to simply
blame the faithful without clarifying is not helping the problem. What I am trying to say is this, even if
you don’t think you are the problem you could be the solution if you really wanted to.

To begin I would like to start with the most recent controversy at the time of the writing of this letter.
You have recently published a revision to the Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraph 2267. This
Paragraph where the Catechism discusses Capital Punishment. Here is the paragraph before the
change:

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."

This paragraph accurately describes what is still the Churches teaching on Capital Punishment. The new
paragraph reads as follows:

Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long
considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit
extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.

Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even
after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of
 the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of
detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same
time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.

Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is
inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works
with determination for its abolition worldwide.

As stated earlier the teaching of the Church is still that the Death Penalty is not inherently immoral in all
cases as there exist instances (even if uncommon) where recourse to capital punishment is not an
immoral act by the State.
The problem then, Holy Father, is why you would approve a change in the Catechism that does not in
fact reflect the teaching of Holy Mother Church? There are a few other easily found errors in this new
text. First, the phrasing of the following sentence “Today, however, there is an increasing awareness
that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes.” This
sentence seems to insinuate that until you made this change the Church was acting upon an incomplete
understanding of human dignity. People have argued to me that this is simply poor phrasing, but I
doubt you would’ve allowed a simple phrasing mistake into the Catechism itself. Also, you have used
similar phrasing in the past when discussing this topic. One of those instances is actually from the same
speech you gave on October 11, 2017 that is quoted later in the new paragraph. The context for the
quote that is used is as follows:

“Yet the harmonious development of doctrine demands that we cease to defend arguments that
now appear clearly contrary to the new understanding of Christian truth…It is necessary to
reiterate that, no matter how serious the crime committed, the death penalty is inadmissible
because it is an attempt against the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

This is the same insinuation that in the past the Church has operated from an incomplete understanding
of the truth. If you feel as though past teachings need to be evolved based on a “new understanding of
Christian Truth” I for one would like to know what other teachings those are.
The next problem I see in the new paragraph is this, “Lastly, more effective systems of detention have
been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively
deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.” The idea that receiving capital punishment
automatically means a person cannot repent of their sin is simply untrue, and is shown to be so during
the Passion Narrative itself.

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save
yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are
under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the
due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus,
remember me when you come into[d] your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to
you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

-Luke 23:39-43 (Revised Standard Version)

This passage pretty definitively proves that Capital Punishment does not eliminate the possibility of
redemption. I find this to be a recurring problem with this new paragraph; it seems to put making
Capital Punishment sound evil over actual examples of when Capital Punishment is used or possibly
needed. For example, this new paragraph states that, “more effective systems of detention have been
developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens…”, yet this may be true for western developed
countries, but it is not necessarily true for developing and third world countries. This paragraph seems
to be an accurate representation of the circumstances in the western world, but it is arguably painfully
ignorant of the rest of the planet’s situation.

This is causing confusion amongst the laity. Except for the change itself the Vatican has been silent on
the matter something I find quite aggravating. This pattern of saying something that causes confusion
then not clarifying it leaving the Church in a state of confusion is something you have done before. The
confusion around Amoris Laetitia was one of the most prevalent examples of this. Even when four of
your Cardinals published five Dubia simply asking you to clarify that you were not intending to
contradict the teaching of the Church you did not respond.

I would like to reiterate, this is a case Holy Father where you have now allowed your opinion on a matter
to cause confusion among the faithful. It is time for you to clarify that the Holy Mother Church’s
teaching on this matter has not and cannot change. The blame for any confusion or division within the
Church lies squarely on your shoulders. The faithful and clergy looking for you to clarify the true
teaching of the Church are not at fault, because that is what the Vicar of Christ is supposed to do.

In Christ,

Josiah Benjamin Lott

A note to the Laity reader of this letter

As I stated above the Churches teaching on the Death Penalty has not in fact changed at all. It is time for
us as the laity to wake up. The Holy Father is now allowing his opinion to change official Church
documents. This is proved by him referencing a speech where he gave his opinion (which is contrary to
the teaching of the Church) on the death penalty in the new catechism paragraph. The Pope clearly
believes the teaching of the Church is outdated. If you do not see this as a slippery slope you are kidding
yourself. This is a problem. The way about which this change was made is a problem. The Holy Father
making the change to the Catechism then not clarifying that the teaching remains the same is a
problem. It is time for the laity to stand up for the Truth even if we must stand up against the Holy
Father himself. This is not a negotiable issue the teaching of the church remains the same that death
penalty is not always wrong. Capital Punishment ought to be reserved for the protection of the rest of a
society, but it is not wrong 100% of the time. I urge you to stand up for Truth. I urge you to stand up for
the Church herself.