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Bishops' angry response to ORF Report: "Church firmly against the death penalty"

Bishops Lackner, Scheuer, and Krautwaschl in a letter to ORF: "In the Austrian Church, anti-democratic and anti-liberal positions are not tolerated by the church leadership."

The Cardinal, Archbishop Lackner, Bishop Scheuer

The Austrian bishops have responded to an ORF report that could be interpreted as suggesting that there are certain "currents" within the Catholic Church, especially in Austria, that call for the death penalty for heresy. 

(Cathcon:  I agree with the Bishops, the idea is utter nonsense and an over-reaction to the Waldstein affair - three articles here - which does not help her case.)

In a ZIB2 report on June 17  at 27:45 (Cathcon: she also says she has been receiving emails containing threats, saying that she is inhuman, not academic, not Catholic on account of her position on LGBT+ inter-alia) on the upcoming Apostolic Visitation at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, the Linz theologian Sigrid Rettenbacher was quoted as making a corresponding statement. The bishops vehemently reject this statement, or rather the image of the Church it paints, in a letter to ORF on Friday. The letter, which Kathpress has obtained, is signed by Archbishop Franz Lackner, Chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, his deputy Bishop Manfred Scheuer, and Media Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl.

The bishops, in agreement with the Magisterium, state that, from the Church's perspective, the death penalty is "inadmissible because it violates the inviolability and dignity of the person." Pope Francis had this stated in the Catechism in 2018. However, this position had already been de facto binding since Pope John Paul II. The 2018 amendment to the World Catechism was also made, among other things, following a corresponding petition from the Austrian Bishops' Conference, the bishops note.

Rettenbacher's statement that there are entire "movements" calling for such a "barbaric regression" would create the impression that these are actually widespread Catholic positions. "However, this portrayal in no way corresponds to the reality of the Church – especially not in Austria," the three bishops note. Thus, these are not "movements within the Church," but at most "extreme individual positions," according to Lackner, Scheuer, and Krautwaschl. They also emphasize: "In the Austrian Church, anti-democratic and anti-liberal positions are not tolerated by the Church leadership."

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Update 24 June
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