Catholics: Are we to be punished by death as in the middle ages according to Canon law?

Question

According to the late Pope John Paul II, the cannon law now reads

CAN.1436
$1. “Whoever denies or places in doubt any truth that must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or repudiates the Christian faith as a whole, and does not come to his senses after having been legitimately warned, is to be punished as a heretic or an apostate by major excommunication…”

$2.”Aside from such cases, whosoever rejects a doctrine proposed, as definitively to be held by the Roman Pontiff or college of Bishops exercising their authentic Magisterium, or else excepts a doctrine condemned by them as erroneous, and does not come to his senses after having been legitimately warned, is to be punished by an appropriate penalty.”

So which “appropriate penalty” will they use, death, like in the middle ages? Is the pope trying to tell me that I will NOT keep the true Sabbath (Saturday) otherwise I will be punished. I suppose a lot of Muslims and even atheists will have a problem with this Canon Law, I certainly do?

Answer 1

No one here has even attempted to address "appropriate penalty" which to me is a very vague and liberal phrase and can mean that any official of the Church can devise any penalty at any point in time as they so deem to be appropriate, which could be a slap on the knukles with a ruler as was once done, a slap on the face, as was once done, burning at the stake, which was once done. Anything. They would, however, have to obey the laws of a given land or be in violation of the conspiracy laws.

Answer 2

No, it's probably excommunication again, though it could be any lesser penalty. Excommunication is not killing someone, it's a formal ecclesiastical censure that deprives a person of the right to belong to the Church. Practically, this is only carried out on those who at the same time trying to convince others of their misbeliefs. It's meant to keep the Church united in truth, but it's a pretty strong punishment, and the Church avoids it whenever possible.

Answer 3

The pope has no intension at all of puting any one to death .He is merely pointing out how important it is to follow the teaching of the church.The ultimate penalty for not doing so is not really the point(which is not death by the way ,well not a physical one at any rate) but rather the effects that disobedience has on the church as a whole.As you may know the catholic church holds the fullness of salvation, one of the popes missions is to ensure that it remains uncomprimised, even if it means excommunication for whom ever threatens this "fullness".

Answer 4

Law for Roman Catholics

And they mean things like challenging the church, not the not going to church on sunday. Like, say, Dan Brown was Catholic (possibly someone high up) and wrote that blasphemous book. He'd be warned first, and then probably excommunicated. IT's concidered still a grave punishment to be excommunicated.

Answer 5

Umm ... correct me if I'm wrong, but did the Middle Ages not end around a thousand years ago?

If the answer is yes, then would it be too much to ask you to stop engaging in rhetorical sensationalism by appealing to the past?

Sorry. I'm just in one of those moods. But it seems like your question was of the baiting variety, designed specifically to discredit religion (the Catholic religion in particular) -- probably because it teaches moral things that you just don't want to hear.

Death penalty? In this day and age? Come off it now.

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Answer 6

First, Cannon law only applies to Catholics, not to Muslims or atheists.

Second, the penalty involved is excommunication. It states so in paragraph 1.

Answer 7

The Catholics did not kill 100 million Christians. Because that would be them killing themselves. Catholics are Christians, what the person might of meant was a "Deism slaughter". Against those who didn't want to follow the rules of the church. The Spanish Inquisition was the slaughter of Moors (i.e. Galileans) who claimed descent from John the Baptist of Galilee and Mary Magdala). Some masons here might disagree but they know its true. The spiritual Elijah is here, the physical one is to come.

Answer 8

Who gives a s h i t what some old man has to say, even if he is wearing a stupid hat? He is NOT the true God that has the right to establish laws. He's just an ordinary man that holds a man-made position in a man-made religion that everyone worships. But if you're are set on killing some poor bastard because he's not buying this bull s h i t, be my guest, the church has been doing it for centuries.

Answer 9

Where do you see anything about keeping the Jewish Sabbath in this article of Canon Law?

Answer 10

no the church only uses the power of excommunication today, like everything else in life, the times are changing.