re: Time to abolish the death penalty...

Ok.....this guy is a troll...probably best to stop feeding him.

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Mercy and Compassion are what we need in the world.

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What reality do you live in?

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Mercy and Compassion are what we need in the world.

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The same mercy and compassion they showed to their victims?

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Mercy and Compassion are what we need in the world.

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yes but Justice is important too. We need to show mercy to those who have done horrid acts, but just because we show them mercy doesn't mean they don't have to justice to pay.

The Cathecism says this

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The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense. When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people's safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party.

Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."68

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people usually quote those last 3 paragraphs in how the Church is against the Death Penalty but this is wrong, you must take into account the paragraph before this.

Now I understand you may not agree with the CCC, and what the Catholic Church (including all 23 rites) has to say, but I think this is good theological grounding for the Death Penalty.

Retributive Justice is a part of the Justice for crimes. This is even the case with God, if you violate the commandments you deserve punishment. (just look at the OT for example)

DP can be used if certain conditions are met.