Vatican wants Saddam spared death penalty

ROME/AMMAN: A top Vatican official condemned the death sentence against Saddam Hussein on Thursday, acknowledging the crimes of the ousted Iraqi leader but reiterating that capital punishment goes against the teachings of the Church, even as Saddam's lawyer urged that he shouldn't be handed over to Iraqis.

Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues and a former Vatican envoy to the United Nations, said that Saddam's execution would punish "a crime with another crime"and expressed hope that the sentence would not be carried out.

In an interview with Rome daily La Repubblica, Martino reiterated the Vatican's staunch opposition to the death penalty, saying that life must be safeguarded from its beginning to its "natural" end.

"The death penalty is not a natural death. And no one can give death, not even the State,"he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/Rest_of_World/Vatican_wants_Saddam_spared_death_penalty/articleshow/968641.cms

at least the Vatican is consistent.

And when it comes to the death penalty I'm in total agreement with them, which is something I can't say often about the church...

many in the right to life movement, who only want to protect the life of the unborn.

hidden billions to the church. It's all about the money.

you tolerant liberal

him have sex without a condom with someone who has aids. They seem incapable of understanding their own hypocrisy, either that or they relish in it.

He supports a hundred stupid ones.

If Charles Manson had nice table manners, it still doesn't mean I'd invite the prick over for dinner. I don't get excited when someone says or does one thing sane, when I despise what they stand for. That goes double for popes. And Rush Limbaugh. Or anyone else, for that matter. Klukkers may hate child molestors, but that doesn't mean I'd quote the bastards, let alone align myself with them.

Those who hold TRUE to Catholic Values interpret PRO-LIFE to include standing against the Death Penalty. In other words, they walk the walk ---> 100% Pro-life beliefs = no abortion, no euthanasia and no forms (even State Sponsored) execution.

Yes, I have great admiration for the Jesuits and Franciscans because they are truly consistent.

Jesuits, they are truly remarkable people.

I agree with the Catholic Church. His execution diminishes me.

If you say you're anti-death penalty, but since it's a monster like Saddam Hussein, maybe it's okay. Then you're really not anti-death penalty. If you say you're anti-death penalty even for a monster like Saddam Hussein, it doesn't mean you don't want him punished for his crimes, just that you're anti-death penalty.

This is something that confuses a lot of kooks on the know-nothing right, and sadly some otherwise canny folks with whom I am in agreement much of the time.

mega church preachers? Their silence is deafning.......
Nice example they set for the sheep. They could at least fake some of that compassion they espouse.

But cheer on executions & support illegal invasions.

Sentencing ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to death is a crime for the Catholic Church says Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which has always condemned the death penalty. In an interview to Rome daily La Repubblica published on Thursday Martino said: "I hope a crime will not be compensated with another crime. The Church says that human life must be protected from conception until a natural death. The death penalty isn't a natural death. Nobody can give death, not even the state."

"There's still a period of 30 days (before the death sentence must be carried out), the president's signature is required, things can happen," the cardinal also told the paper.

Italian premier Romano Prodi has also condemned the decision to impose the death penalty.

In the interview to Repubblica, Martino criticised the US for showing pictures of soldiers checking Saddam's teeth "like a cow" immediately after he was captured in December 2003.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.371696025&par=0

"If you go to Iraq you go without God."

and very very true!!

I miss JPII.

i don't think americans need to be telling the iraqi people whether or not they can execute saddam, when we still have executions in this country

doing it under orders from the occupying army which illegally invaded their country.

A kangaroo court empowered under an occupying force is a farce. At the very least, Saddam should have been tried by the International Court of Justice; but then the dirty secrets of the Bush Crime Family would have been exposed.

I guess they forgot to tell the Inquisition.

Vatican also says that birth control is a crime.

but that never seemed to be a big concern for the catholic church.

so I ask. Who is he to escape the same fate?

Yes I'm against the death penality even for Bush.

the answer

Remember what's important! Who cares about wars and poverty??!!

All they think about is revenge.

gee, americas acceptance of public executions begins.

In american prisons they have never been televised hence they haven't been public.

George must be proud.

Do you see he will be hung with 2 other "lesser" criminals? It this Jesus Christ parallel intentional?

Thanks for pointing it out.

Yep, Happy new year... Americas desensitation to public executions is about to begin.

The entire trial was a circus of USA consultants and installed Iraqi crones. :(

Bush 41 must rue the fact that Junior (43) has a penchant for having the Reverse Midas Touch: Everything he has his grubby fingers in turns out to be disastrous!

The last things you want him controlling are large corporations or an entire NATION. The man is a walking disaster and everything he touches turns to DUST! :cry:

Oh, may the Good Lord give those of us who are Christians the courage to persevere until the Presidential Elections of 2008? :shrug:

Made me wonder. I don't put anything past them anymore.

He played a crucial role in helping the Cheerleader win in 2004.

If it was left to the Vatican it would still be God's Enforcer, executing the heathens and infidels.

The Vatican to fit their kool-aid drinking need for vengeance.

I'm not an historian but believe that "The Vatican" proper has been anti-execution for a long time.

April 21, 2005 | President Bush treated his final visit with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City on June 4, 2004, as a campaign stop. After enduring a public rebuke from the pope about the Iraq war, Bush lobbied Vatican officials to help him win the election. "Not all the American bishops are with me," he complained, according to the National Catholic Reporter. He pleaded with the Vatican to pressure the bishops to step up their activism against abortion and gay marriage in the states during the campaign season.

About a week later, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sent a letter to the U.S. bishops, pronouncing that those Catholics who were pro-choice on abortion were committing a "grave sin" and must be denied Communion. He pointedly mentioned "the case of a Catholic politician consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws" -- an obvious reference to John Kerry, the Democratic candidate and a Roman Catholic. If such a Catholic politician sought Communion, Ratzinger wrote, priests must be ordered to "refuse to distribute it." Any Catholic who voted for this "Catholic politician," he continued, "would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion." During the closing weeks of the campaign, a pastoral letter was read from pulpits in Catholic churches repeating the ominous suggestion of excommunication. Voting for the Democrat was nothing less than consorting with the forces of Satan, collaboration with "evil."

http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/blumenthal/2005/04/21/tk/index_np.html

nothing. Two words, Ian Paisley. That's Bush's boy. A number 1 enemy of the Catholic Church.

for quite some time now. Maybe he has just given up on his intelligent designing.