Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. SCREENGRAB FROM RTVM
MANILA — As lawmakers debate over reinstating the death penalty, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle urged the faithful to get involved by expressing their opposition to the controversial proposal.
In a statement, the prelate appealed to the Catholic faithful, especially those objecting to the reimposition of the death penalty, to tell their elected representatives not to support the bill.
“If you share these convictions, you should make them known to your elected representatives,” Tagle said.
The Manila archbishop made the call in a statement issued on Thursday (Feb. 2), “An Invitation to Reflect, Pray and Act.”
The Catholic Church in the Philippines has always been opposed to reviving the death penalty.
Earlier this week, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines expressed their “unequivocal” objection to bills seeking to reimpose the death penalty for heinous crimes.
The plenary discussions on House Bill 4727 began on Wednesday when Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro delivered his sponsorship speech.
Under the proposed measure, the death penalty will be imposed on over 20 crimes, such as illegal drug trafficking, arson, treason, murder, rape, kidnapping, carnapping, etc.
In his statement, Tagle cited three reasons of the Catholic Church in opposing capital punishment.
He warned that the death penalty would legitimize violence in dealing with wrongdoing, and that penalties might be imposed for vengeance.
“Penalties are not imposed for vengeance but for the correction of offenders and the good of society. A culture of violence dehumanizes. A culture of justice, integrity, and hope heals,” he said.
Instead, what needs to be done is to reform institutions to ensure that these will safeguard justice while preventing the spread of a culture of violence.
The prelate added that the death penalty has failed to deter or lessen violent crimes.
“The death penalty has not reduced crime because it does not solve criminality from its roots. To help solve these roots of criminality, the Church and the state need to protect and strengthen the basic unit of society, which is the family,” he said.
Every human life is a gift from God and every human is saved by Jesus Christ, according to Tagle.
He also warned against humans pretending to be gods by imposing the death penalty.
“This is the reason why an ethic of life, a culture of life, is inconsistent with abortion, euthanasia, human trafficking, mutilation, and violence against innocent and vulnerable persons,” Tagle added. SFM/rga