ARTICLES
October 2003 ARTICLES
Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Like Pax Christi USA, Bishop Gabino Zavala seems "more Catholic" than the pope when it comes to the death penalty. In Evangelium Vitæ, Pope John Paul II said that punishment of criminals "ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society." Yet, in an October 7, 2002 interview with Amnesty International, Bishop Zavala said that, in Evangelium Vitæ, the pope "spoke against the death penalty" -- without mentioning the exception "in cases of absolute necessity."
When asked by the interviewer to give "a general overview of the perspective of Catholicism on the death penalty," Zavala gave this answer: "As with many of our traditions and our teachings, over the years, as we understand more, it has developed. At one time we as a Church gave the right to the state to decide on the death penalty, the question of the death penalty and so it was the state that had the right to put someone [to] death if they so deemed it. But I think the position of the Church now is that the guiding principle would be that every life is sacred and it doesn't matter if it's the life of an elderly person, of a child, or of a criminal, every life is sacred. And so no one has a right to take the life of another, even on behalf of the state. And so that that's what we try to promote now, that the sacredness of life is something that we have to promote."
Zavala also spoke of the need to "educate our people" on the Church's teaching on the death penalty. "There are a number of our people who do not understand what the church teaches them and sometimes it's not their fault because we have not spoken, we do not speak to it as we should," he said.
Though he has recently reaffirmed the teaching of the Church on the sinfulness of homosexual acts, in the past, it seems, Bishop Zavala has held that homosexuality (which the Church calls an objective disorder) carries with it is own special gifts, which should be given expression in the Church. According to the St. Catherine Review, when addressing the 1998 conference of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries, Bishop Zavala said the following: "The skill, talent, giftedness, insight, and grace of homosexual and lesbian members of the faith community is to be called forth, welcomed, and allowed expression. And this receptivity promotes the full development of the human person, enhances the life of the community, and serves to reveal the true face of God."
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