Vatican, Catholic officials say "don't hang Saddam"

[peanutbrittle]

Vatican, Catholic officials say "don't hang Saddam"
05 Nov 2006 18:27:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05244002.htm

VATICAN CITY, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Vatican and Roman Catholic officials said on Sunday that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein should not be put to death even if he has committed crimes against humanity because every life is sacred.

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, said that carrying out the death sentence by hanging would be an unjustifiably vindictive action.

"For me, punishing a crime with another crime -- which is what killing for vindication is -- would mean that we are still at the point of demanding an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," he was quoted as saying by Italian news agency Ansa.

"Unfortunately, Iraq is one of the few countries that have not yet made the civilised choice of abolishing the death penalty," said Martino, effectively the Pope's justice minister.

more....http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05244002.htm

[C_U_L8R]

1. we're one of those few uncivilized countries too

that could change if the fundies ever actually read a Bible.

[YOY]

2. Gotta appreciate the vatican for one thing

They are consistent in their "Pro-Life Philosophy"...if not concerned enough with the quality of life for the currently living...

[shrike]

6. yes, I feel that way, too

Though I'm pro-choice, I acknowledge that the Chucrch is consistent with their pro-life positions.

[irislake]

3. Most Western Countries

agree with the pope. Why do some people feel better when they kill another human being however evil? That mystifes me.

[soothsayer]

4. Agreed! All execution is barbaric, but hanging is even more so.

I guess beheading is worse, but jeez o flip, people still sentence other people to death? Just downright weird in the 21st century.

[eallen]

5. I wonder if Martino realizes the irony of quoting that particular rule?

What does the Vatican usually say to someone who points out the Old Testament as a barbaric work?

:eyes:

[Briar]

7. Isn't Judge Antonin "Jeffreys" Scalia

a Catholic? I thought he was all for capital punishment - afterall, this life is nothing when there's another to move on to...

[Catfight]

8. You say new testament, I say old testament, let's call the whole thing off.

[Demeter]

9. I Want Him Alive to Testify at Bush Family War Crimes Trials

(Bet you a nickel no one would plead for a Bush life, not even the Pope).