In an unprecedented move, 45 Catholic academics and clergy have signed an Appeal to the Cardinals, urging them to tell Pope Francis that he must teach the true Catholic doctrine concerning capital punishment.
The appeal follows an addition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church announced by Francis on August 2.
The confusingly worded addition has been understood to say that capital punishment is intrinsically immoral. Such a claim runs contrary to the Bible and the Church's teaching.
Catholics hold that the Pope has no right to invent new doctrines, or to contradict the Church's teaching.
The petition reminds the cardinals that they have a serious obligation to warn Francis to withdraw the offending paragraph, and that he must not "adulterate the word of God".
It does not insist that capital punishment must always be used in practice for the worst crimes, since this is a matter which Catholics may freely debate, rather it insists on the legitimacy of the death penalty in principle.
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