TORTURE IS A MORAL ISSUE -- PART 2

TORTURE IS A MORAL ISSUE: A CATHOLIC GUIDE

We continue on with our guide about Torture. The text below are excerpts from Torture is a Moral Issue: A Catholic Study Guide developed by Catholic members of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and the Office of International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

PART 2 – THE PROBLEM WITH TORTURE

Catholic social teaching today opposes torture in the treatment of any detained or imprisoned person. For the Church is convinced that every human person bears a God-given dignity; respect for that dignity must always be present. The Church also is careful to point out that torture is illegal, prohibited under international law.

Pope Benedict XVI talked about this in September 2007, when he addressed an international congress of Catholic prison ministers. “Means of punishment or correction that either undermine or debase the human dignity of prisoners” must be eschewed by public authorities, he said. Immediately he added the following statement, which incorporates a quote taken from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: “The prohibition against torture ‘cannot be contravened under any circumstances’” (No. 404).

What constitutes torture? Here’s the full definition written in the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December 1984:

For the purpose of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent of acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.

Hope Is the Solution

“How in our fearful times can we remain hopeful?” That question was posed in 2001 by Cardinal Godfried Danneels. It is a crucial question, he proposed, because “hope is not located somewhere at the edge of human existence: it is its heart. If it is hit, the person dies.” Cardinal Danneels, Archbishop of Mechelin-Brussels, Belgium, spoke about this at Jesuit-run John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, shortly after the attacks of 9-11.

“The cardinal asked, “May we still hope?” There is, he observed, “so much war and violence, genocide, unemployment, crime and terrorism.” Thus, “a sort of existential angst hangs in the air,” and “humankind wishes to fight back.” But “do we always choose the right weapon?” The cardinal, responding to his own question said, “Often we become cold, businesslike, cynical or even indifferent. The real solution lies elsewhere. It is hope.”

Summing Up

The use of torture in the treatment of prisoners or of people considered to be enemies is opposed in Catholic teaching. In the Church’s eyes:

Torture violates a human person’s God-given dignity.

The end does not justify the means; torture is a moral issue.

Torture violates international humanitarian law.

The torture and crucifixion of Jesus, and the torture and abuse of many saints down through history also are never forgotten by the Church. What do we learn from the interrogation, flogging, and crucifixion of Jesus? How does the torture of Jesus and many saints remind us of our nation’s response to threatening developments in the world today?

Some think that a sense of desperation began to influence people’s thinking in the period after 9-11. What do you think?

The Catholic Church always wants to contribute to the world in positive ways and to help cast light on the most pressing issues of the times. That is why the Church and her people enter into the public discussion of an issue such as torture.

What constructive contribution do you think the Christian community or its individual members can make to the conversation about key issues our nation faces, such as its response to terrorism?

Concluding Prayer

“From now on, Lord,

Help me to bring your love everywhere:

to schools and hospitals,

to marketplaces and theaters,

to press and television.

No one should be deprived

of the environment of love.

Lord, love is the means you want me to use

to bear witness to you,

or you would have shown me another way.”

(From “Prayers of Hope, Words of Courage”,

by Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan,

Pauline Books, 2002)