The Pope’s statement on killing can be confusing

The Pope recently made a statement that the commandment – “Thou shall not kill is absolute” – Does he mean that killing is never justified? I think a clarification is needed.The Catholic Church is still in debate with some bishops saying that killing can be justified in some situations. Therefore the answer, it seems to me is there are different situations when killing can be justified. Two examples are in war and self-defense.

I think that this ought to be said otherwise the ordinary layman is unable to understand that there are indeed exceptions, as part of the debate even if Pope Francis opposes “capital punishment, saying it’s an offense to life, contradicts God’s plan and serves no purpose for punishment.”

The Pope issued the statement in a video message to an anti-death penalty congress in Norway. Pope Francis declared the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” has absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty.

He has gone beyond what his predecessors state and what is commonly recognized by traditional Catholic teaching.

He said rather than rendering justice,the death penalty fosters vengeance. That is viewpoint and must go through a test of time. Church teaching allows capital punishment when it is the only way to defend lives “effectively” against an aggressor.

Francis sent his message to the delegates of the sixth World Congress against capital punishment, currently being held in Oslo, Norway. That may be the Pope’s position but not necessarily of government leaders who have to deal directly with criminals. Our president, Rody Duterte in reply said that capital punishment is retribution, not a deterrent. I think.It is both. It is its absoluteness that stops potential criminals.

“If it can be justified, it’s not murder – it’s justifiable homicide, or manslaughter, or an act of combat, or self-defense, or capital punishment, or euthanasia, etc. Now, if you are asking if homicide can ever be justified, the answer is obviously yes.”says other ecclesiastical authorities.

In Evangelium Vitae, John Paul teaches that both defense of society and retribution are necessary for the legitimate exercise of capital punishment, but neither in itself is enough.

This teaching does not reverse any previous Church teaching, since no previous Church teaching had addressed the question of the relationship among the various purposes of punishment in the case of the death penalty. Death penalty is not merely a rejection of traditional Catholic teaching it also deepens the Church’s “dedication to the dignity of the human person and the common good of society.”

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Jose Alejandrino, BayanKo adviser sent this post about China. I agree with what he said about how to deal with China specially with the arbitration being pushed by the Philippines through UNCLOS. This is not the way Oriental culture settles conflicts especially when it is between neighbors. As one Chinese ambassador told me sometime ago, when the Philippines chose this path, it made the conflict even more intractable.

“The way to deal with China is not to make it lose face. For the Chinese losing face is important. If we get a ruling from the UN tribunal favorable to us, leave it in the backburner and don’t push it in their face.

The way to deal with China is through quiet diplomacy, not by a verbal war in the press. By ratcheting up heated public rhetoric, it merely contributes to strengthening the hawks and undermining the hands of the moderates in Beijing. It is counter-productive in that it increases tension unnecessarily.

In my informal talks with Chinese officials, I pointed out that we Filipinos have our sensibilities like the Chinese too have theirs. We Filipinos have our share of hotheads like the Chinese. We must understand each other’s sensibilities in order not to strengthen the hotheads. If the hotheads take over, it will lead to a direct and violent confrontation where nobody will gain. The Chinese understood this.

President Duterte and DFA Sec. Yasay have already announced the pillars of their foreign policy. An independent foreign policy of being friends with all nations. A policy of being treated as an equal and not a vassal of any foreign nation. A policy of asserting and defending our territorial and maritime rights.

The Chinese don’t want war as much as we don’t. It does not need to invade the Philippines. China only needs to shut down our communication facilities through cyber war. It has shown its capability by hacking sensitive material from US defense and corporate bodies. It only needs one well placed intermediate range missile with a nuclear warhead to wipe out 12 million Filipinos in Metro Manila. It already controls an important segment of our economy.

Like it or not, China is the big boy around the block. Being a small boy, we have to learn to live with the big boy. Inspite of US government pronouncements, the American public will not accept to go to war with China over a few islets and rocks in the Spratlys. The US has its own set of problems at home.

The only time when the US will risk a violent confrontation with China is when the international maritime trade lanes are shut down. But China is unlikely to do this because she herself depends on international trade.

Why does China want to control the Spratlys? Because she feels threatened by overseas bases like those in the Philippines surrounding her. This was the same rationale when Russia took over part of Georgia and part of the Ukraine. Did NATO do something about it? No, they weren’t worth going to war with Russia.

We Filipinos have to shed our colonial mentality, our over dependence and reliance on the US. We have to learn we are a part of Asia and not America. We have to learn to stand on our own feet. We have to learn to live with our Asian neighbors.

President Duterte knows what to do. Leave it to him. The Chinese president holds him in high respect and there is no reason why they can’t get along together. What we can do is tone down all the war rhetoric in the formal and social media.”

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Jack Rodriguez whose wife, Sonia, is an old friend invited Mr Alejandrino and I to a dinner at the La Tienda to meet the daughter of Joma Sison and the Agcaoili brothers. Manuel is the president of a foundation for the rehabilitation of the disabled while Fidel is the chairman of the National Democratic Front panel that is negotiating with the Duterte government.

It was good to have a chat especially with Fidel Agcaoili who is just back from Oslo. Sometimes, more is achieved in understanding than relying on press stories that cover our adversaries as if they are strange people. Indeed when I entered the restaurant I was surprised to have met the group who looked and spoke like us even with differences of opinion.