The execution of Byron Black in Tennessee this week exposes a deeper moral and theological crisis in our society—one that Catholics cannot ignore. While the brutality of Mr. Black’s crimes rightly horrifies us, his execution, carried out despite significant ethical concerns, forces us to confront a fundamental question: what does it mean to uphold the dignity of the human person?
Mr. Black was executed by lethal injection while still equipped with a defibrillator-pacemaker implant—a device designed to preserve life by shocking the heart when it fails. Yet this life-saving technology was left active during the process of state-sanctioned death, raising the very real possibility of a “grotesque spectacle,” as described by his attorney Kelley Henry, in which the device “would cause Mr. Black extreme pain and distress” as it fought against the death drugs in vain. Seven journalists present reported signs of suffering. One even recorded Mr. Black saying “it hurt so bad.”
Whether or not one believes the death penalty is justified in some cases, this moment should prompt every Catholic to reconsider what it means to respect life at every stage.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear: “The dignity of the human person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes” (CCC 2267). While the Church has historically permitted the death penalty under strict conditions, that position has developed. In 2018, Pope Francis revised the Catechism, declaring that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (CCC 2267). As Catholics, we are called to be pro-life in every sense of the word—not only in opposition to abortion or euthanasia, but also against any form of killing that denies human dignity.
Mr. Black, while convicted of a heinous triple murder, was also a man with clear intellectual disabilities. He had a long-documented history of cognitive impairment, scoring no higher than 70 on IQ tests and needing help to perform basic tasks like making change for a $5 bill. He died in a wheelchair. If convicted under today’s clinical standards in Tennessee, he would not have been eligible for the death penalty at all. Still, the courts refused to revisit his case, citing procedural technicalities.
Catholic teaching is also firm on euthanasia. “Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible” (CCC 2276). Deliberate euthanasia, defined as “putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons,” is morally unacceptable (CCC 2277). Mr. Black, who suffered from both heart failure and cognitive decline, was not just executed—he was euthanized by the state, under conditions that arguably amounted to torture.
What happened in Tennessee was not justice. It was vengeance masked as closure. And yet the Church teaches that “true peace is not merely the absence of war or violence, but the presence of justice, of right order” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, §494).
Our society must reject the false dichotomy that justice for victims means death for the guilty. True justice restores, it does not destroy. Pope John Paul II once wrote, “Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this” (Evangelium Vitae, 9). To uphold the dignity of life is to say: no more killing—not in abortion clinics, not in hospitals, not in prisons.
Let us be clear: Mr. Black’s crimes were evil. But so was his execution.
We do not honor the lives of Angela Clay and her daughters by violating the sanctity of another life. We do not protect society by dehumanizing the sick, the disabled, or the condemned. As Catholics, we are called to be the voice for the voiceless, the defenders of life from conception to natural death. And that includes those behind bars.
We are called to mercy, not vengeance. To healing, not retaliation. And to a consistent ethic of life.
In this, we must not be silent.
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