Dear Editor: Laura Ieraci should be commended for her reporting, “Church Seeks End of Death Penalty Around the World” (March 14).

The work of Archbishop Silvano Tomasi at the United Nations to encourage States to refrain from using the death penalty as a form of punishment for even horrendous and savage crimes is part of an ongoing discussion within the Catholic Church. No less a person than St. John Paul the Great supported such a stance. His very suasive arguments are still part of this important and continuing dialogue.

However, several aspects should be pointed out. We know from Sacred Scripture and the very words of Christ that the right of States to use the death penalty is a right granted by heaven (John 19:11). At present, in Sacred Tradition, there is no magisterial document declaring the death penalty, in itself, to be intrinsically evil. Therefore, the discussion revolves on whether or not Sates should use their right to the death penalty.

Catholics can with a clear conscience be for or against the death penalty. They are also free to use the democratic process either to legally retain the death penalty or abolish it.

With Catholics and other Christians being raped, buried alive, publically beheaded and burned, it will be interesting to see where this analysis will lead us. The capacity for clear, precise and definitive thinking is at the heart of Catholic intellectual culture, which in itself is the foundation of Western civilization. Such thinking will guide us.

DEACON JOHN P. COFFEY
Brooklyn