Respect for Life: the Issue of Death Penalty in Catholic Teachings

An essential principle of a human rights is that each and every human being has an innate dignity that must be respected. Respect for one's human dignity is the original human right from which other human being had as a gift from our almighty God. Respect for human digmity as well as respect for life are discussed in the essay as fundamental concepts in Catholic social teaching. 

As we reflect about the concepf of respect for human life in this essay we also touch the topic of death penalty. The plummeting human rights situation in the Philippines got even worse as the government began considering to reinstate the death penalty. The move by the House Committee on Justice came after President Rodrigo Duterte used his State of the Nation Address to call for capital punishment by lethal injection for drug offenders. But was not successfully established since the catholic church did not stop in going against this establishment. As this is against the Life and Dignity of the Human Person, they do not believe that by taking a person's life who is a criminal that committed a heinous crimes is a right thing to do. Even Pope Francis declares that death penalty is unacceptable in all cases because it is against the dignity of a human life.

Respect for Human Life It's a Principle Rule to Follow

Catholics believe that only the God can decide a man's fate. Even me and the people around are also Catholics who believes that a life of a person should be treasured since it is a gift that God had bestowed upon us, a person deciding to end another person's life is a bigger sin that you would never ever want to commit since it was God who gave life to every living organisms and this act only means that you defy him. This kind of issues does not hinders me from exercising my faith in God, instead it strengthened my faith because it made me realize by knowing the fact that God had given us this life so that we could treasure and expand our experiences in the remaining days of our lives. By the guidance of the Catholic social teaching we can address this issue by applying the life imprisonment which is much better than death penalty as a punishment to a criminal.

Each and every one of us has to respect the life and dignity of every human being. As written in the essay: people should safe each others lives because only God, our Creator, can decide who should die. Even when people deny the dignity of an individual, we must still acknowledge that their dignity is a gift from God and is not something that is earned or lost through their behavior. Respect for life applies to all, even the perpetrators of terrible acts. Punishment should be consistent with the demands of justice and with respect for human life and dignity.