The Media has also reported that John Paul II asked President Bush to spare Timothy McVeigh's life, but that the President has no intention of trying to grant clemency. Most would agree that the death penalty should not be imposed if there is the slightest doubt that the wrong person was convicted. In this context, I think it is opportune that we take a look at the Church's teaching on this subject, and strive to embrace that teaching more fully. The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and the duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense.
Punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense.
When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor. If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person. The Pope's Encyclical Letter to the Bishops Priests and Deacons, Men and Women Religious, Lay Faithful, and All People of Good Will on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life, issued on March 25, 1995. Unfortunately it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life.