Causam mortis

The classic translations of Acts 13:28 (from today's first reading - Acts 13:26-33) say something like this:

And finding no cause of death in him,
they desired of Pilate
that they might kill him.

This closely follows the Vulgate

Et nullam causam mortis
invenientes in eum
petierunt a Pilato
ut interficerent eum

A decent modern translation renders the verse thusly:

Though they could charge him
with nothing deserving death,
yet they asked Pilate
to have him killed.

And the translation read in many churches for the first reading today goes this way:

For even though they found
no grounds for a death sentence,
they asked Pilate
to have him put to death...

It is easy to challenge this latter translation as pedestrian, but it is more important to let the Scripture itself (in whatever translation) challenge us.

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One way in which this verse may challenge us is to make us look again at the question of the death penalty and all the moral questions that connect to it.

The teaching of the Church is summarized by number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"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 with 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 definitively 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 non-existent.' (Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 56)"

Both supporters and opponents of the death penalty should seriously ask themselves whether their focus really is on "defending human lives against the unjust aggressor" or some other reason such as instinctive vengeance, knee-jerk squeamishness, or political peer pressure.

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Whatever practical position we may hold regarding capital punishment, we have a solemn obligation as Christians, as members of the Church, as citizens within our respective political systems, and as human beings: to do what we can to keep all aspects of our life (including politics) consistent with our faith, to have civil law reflect solid morality, to bring about true justice, and to protect human life.