First Things (QUI) ha pubblicato ieri un appello (vedere anche Tosatti QUI e de Mattei QUI), firmato da numerose personalità del mondo accademico, religioso e culturale, rivolto ai cardinali della Chiesa romana perché consiglino il Pontefice regnante di ritirare dal Catechismo la variazione aggiunta qualche giorno fa in tema di pena capitale.
Per la nostra piccola - ma sincera - buona battaglia pubblichiamo volentieri l'appello e diamo il nostro appoggio all'appello.
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Alle reverendissime eminenze, i cardinali della santa Chiesa romana.
Dal momento che è una verità contenuta nella parola di Dio, e insegnata dal magistero ordinario e universale della Chiesa cattolica che i criminali possono legittimamente essere messi a morte dal potere civile quando ciò sia necessario per preservare il giusto ordine nella società civile, e dal momento che il presente pontefice romano ha più di una volta manifestato il suo rifiuto di insegnare questa dottrina, e ha invece portato una grande confusione nella Chiesa sembrando contraddirlo, e inserendo nel Catechismo della Chiesa Cattolica un paragrafo che farà sì, e già sta facendo sì che molte persone, sia credenti che non credenti, suppongano che la Chiesa consideri, contrariamente alla parola di Dio, che la pena capitale è intrinsecamente malvagia, noi facciamo appello alle Vostre Eminenze affinché consiglino Sua Santità che è suo dovere porre fine a questo scandalo, e ritirare questo paragrafo dal Catechismo, e insegnare la parola di Dio senza adulterazioni; e osiamo dichiarare la nostra convinzione che questo è un dovere che Vi impegna seriamente, di fronte a Dio e di fronte alla Chesa.
To their Most Reverend Eminences, the Cardinals of the holy Roman Church
Since it is a truth contained in the word of God, and taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Catholic Church, that criminals may lawfully be put to death by the civil power when this is necessary to preserve just order in civil society, and since the present Roman pontiff has now more than once publicly manifested his refusal to teach this doctrine, and has rather brought great confusion upon the Church by seeming to contradict it, and by inserting into the Catechism of the Catholic Church a paragraph which will cause and is already causing many people, both believers and non-believers, to suppose that the Church considers, contrary to the word of God, that capital punishment is intrinsically evil, we hereby call upon Your Eminences to advise His Holiness that it is His duty to put an end to this scandal, to withdraw this paragraph from the Catechism, and to teach the word of God unadulterated; and we venture to state our conviction that this is a duty seriously binding upon Yourselves, before God and before the Church.
I primi firmatari.
Dr Hadley Arkes, Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions emeritus at Amherst College; founder and director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights & the American Founding, Washington D.C.
Dr Joseph Bessette, Alice Tweed Tuohy Professor of Government and Ethics, Claremont McKenna College
James Bogle Esq., TD MA Dip Law, barrister (trial attorney), former President FIUV, former Chairman of the Catholic Union of Great Britain
Fr John Boyle JCL
Patrick Brennan, Professor of Law and John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies, Villanova University
Dr J. Budziszewski, Professor of Government and Philosophy, University of Texas
Dr. Isobel Camp, Professor of Philosophy, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy
Fr Michael Gilmary Cermak MMA
Fr. Linus F Clovis, Ph.D, JCL, M.SC., STB
Dr Travis Cook, Associate Professor of Government and Political Philosophy, Belmont Abbey College
Dr Cyrille Dounot, Professor of Legal History, Université Clermont Auvergne; ecclesiastical lawyer, ecclesiastical court of Lyon
Dr Patrick Downey, Professor of Philosophy, St. Mary’s College of California
Dr Eduardo Echeverria, Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Dr Edward Feser, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Pasadena City College
Dr Alan Fimister, Assistant Professor of Theology at St John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver
Dr Luca Gili, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Université du Québec à Montréal
Fr Brian Harrison OS STD Associate Professor of Theology (retired), Pontifical University of Puerto Rico
Fr John Hunwicke, Former Senior Research Fellow, Pusey House, Oxford
Dr Peter Koritansky, Professor of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
Dr Peter Kwasniewski, independent scholar and author
Dr John Lamont STL DPhil. (Oxon.)
Fr Serafino M. Lanzetta STD
Dr Robert Lazu, Independent Scholar and Writer
Professor Roberto de Mattei, Former Professor of the History of Christianity, European University of Rome, former Vice President of the National Research Council (CNR)
Dr Brian McCall, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Director of the Law Center, Orpha and Maurice Merrill Professor in Law, University of Oklahoma
Fr Paul McDonald, parish priest of Chippawa, Ontario
Dr Stéphane Mercier, former lecturer in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium)
Dr Robert T. Miller, Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law
Fr Alfredo Morselli, SSL, parish priest in the diocese of Bologna
Maureen Mullarkey, Senior Contributor, The Federalist
Fr Gerald Murray, JCD, Pastor, Church of the Holy Family, New York, NY
Fr Reto Ney
Dr Lukas Novak, Lecturer in Philosophy, Faculty of Theology, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice
Dr. Thomas Osborne, Professor of Philosophy, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas
Dr Michael Pakaluk, Professor of Ethics, Busch School of Business and Economics, Catholic University of America
Dr Paolo Pasqualucci, retired Professor of Philosophy, University of Perugia, Italy
Dr Claudio Pierantoni, Professor of Medieval Philosophy in the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Chile
Thomas Pink, Professor of Philosophy, King’s College London
Rev Andrew Pinsent, DPhil, PhD, Research Director, Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford
Dr Donald S. Prudlo, Professor of Ancient and Medieval History, Jacksonville State University
Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P., Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, California
Fr. George W. Rutler, Pastor, Church of Saint Michael the Archangel, New York City
Matthew Schmitz, Senior Editor, First Things
Dr Joseph Shaw, Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St Benet’s Hall, Oxford University
Dr. Michael Sirilla, Professor of Dogmatic and Systematic Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio
Fr Glen Tattersall, Parish Priest, Parish of Bl. John Henry Newman, archdiocese of Melbourne; Rector, St Aloysius’ Church
Dr Joseph Trabbic, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Ave Maria University, Florida
Prof. Giovanni Turco, Associate Professor of Philosophy of Public Law at the University of Udine; Corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Dr Michael Uhlmann, Professor in the Division of Politics & Economics, Claremont Graduate University
Fr John Zuhlsdorf