Pope Francis made a change to paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty. Now, according to the teaching of the church, the death penalty is considered inadmissible under any circumstances.

In the previous version of the catechism, approved by Pope John Paul II, a more tolerant attitude to the execution was fixed. In it, the execution appointed by a law court was called "an adequate response to the seriousness of certain crimes, and also an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of protecting the common good".

Now paragraph 2267 states that the death penalty is unacceptable, since it encroaches on the inviolability and dignity of the person, BBC News reports..

The new version of the paragraph is borrowed from the speech of Pope Francis, delivered on October 11, 2017.

"Nowadays, there is a growing awareness that even having committed serious crimes, a person does not lose his dignity.

In addition, a new understanding of the meaning of criminal punishment by the state has spread, "explain in the church.

Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken out against the practice of the death penalty. In October last year, he said that the church can reconsider the attitude towards the execution.

The Church resolutely intercedes for the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world, a new edition of paragraph 2267 is cited in the statement of the Holy See.