KILL ORDER

On April 29^th, President Obama signed the order to kill Osama bin Laden. I wonder…where’s the Vatican’s outrage regarding the kill-order? The order allowed bin Laden to be killed whether he was armed or not, whether a threat to his captors or not. As it turned out he was neither. The order was purely an eye for an eye, act of revenge, and outright Capital Punishment for a crime against the United States. Again, where’s the Vatican’s condemnation? It tells me one of two things. Either the Vatican is once again gutless in the face of overwhelming world opinion or much of its opposition to capital punishment is purely political. The death of Osama bin Laden was as straight forward of an assassination plot as it gets. There was no judge or jury and bin Laden didn’t get a chance to deny that he was the mastermind of 9/11; there was just execution. Even so, there is not even a peep from the Vatican about the kill-order, only this statement: “Osama bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions for this purpose. In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred.” Okay, nice statement although there are plenty of reasons to celebrate that bin Laden won’t be planning the “deaths of innumerable people.” Anyway, there’s not a word about the kill-order. If the Vatican made such an objection I wouldn’t agree with it but I might have a little more respect for its capital punishment position, despite its own storied historical practices. Nevertheless, at least it would be consistent for recent times. As a Catholic, I have mixed feelings about the Vatican’s lack of indignation at the kill-order. On one hand, I’m glad that the Vatican hasn’t spoken out against the kill order; I would have disagreed if it did. On the other hand, each time the Church remits to political pressure it becomes weaker; it is seen as a hypocrite. Perhaps there wasn’t anyone that the Lord Jesus was tougher on than hypocrites.