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Mercy, Justice, And Politics: John Paul Ii On Capital Punishment, Kevin E. Miller

Dissertations (1934 -)

Pope John Paul II's 1995 Evangelium Vitae teaches that capital punishment ought not be used "except ... when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society." Several interpretations of this teaching have been proposed. Through a close reading of the encyclical in itself, in light of John Paul's other writings on the human person and morality, especially the 1980 Dives in Misericordia, and also in the context of such important influences upon him as Thomas Aquinas and Henri de Lubac, I dispute, on the one hand, the interpretation according to which John Paul is pointing toward possible acceptance of …