Included were significant changes to the language regarding capital punishment. The new language reflects the Holy Father's teaching in the 1995 Encyclical, Evangelium Vitae . The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility. 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. 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.