Catholic church withdraws support for death sentence, Pope says it's outdated

- The Catholic Church will no longer support death sentence following new changes

- Pope Francis changed the teaching of the church noting death sentence was outdated

- The changes were enacted by the body responsible for defending Catholic doctrine

- The changes come at a time when debate is rife in Kenya on whether the penalty should be substituted with life imprisonment

While the death penalty handed to Ruth Kamande for stabbing her boyfriend to death continues to draw debate on capital punishment, the Catholic church has changed its teachings on the same.

Pope Francis changed the catechism of the church-the compilation of official Catholic teachings-on the penalty, concluding it was wrong as it attacked human dignity.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Pope Francis changed the catechism of the church on the penalty, concluding it was wrong as it attacked human dignity.

The new teaching saying the previous policy was outdated was enacted by the body responsible for promulgating and defending Catholic doctrine, The Independent reported on Wednesday, August 2.

"Consequently the church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, and she (Catholic church) works with determination for its abolition worldwide," said the church.

The Catholic church had initially allowed the death penalty in extreme cases for centuries when it was considered the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against an unjust aggressor.

The changes by the Pope comes at a time when human rights group Amnesty International (AI) is battling Kamande’s death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.

The changes by the Pope comes at a time when human rights group Amnesty International is battling Kamande’s death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.

Executive Director Irungu Houghton said in a statement there was no credible evidence the death penalty detered crime any better than other lawful punishments.

He further asked the court to call for Kamande’s rehabilitation instead.

The human rights group is not alone in the fight as a taskforce on the review of the mandatory death sentence is seeking the substitution of the penalty with life imprisonment with eligibility for parole.

According to Anne Okutoyi, a member of the task force representing the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the new proposal which is among a raft of measures being fronted by the taskforce is in line with a Supreme Court ruling issued in December 2017.

The Supreme Court found the death sentence to be unconstitutional to the extent of its mandatory nature.

However, Kenyan courts still hand capital punishment to those charged with murder or treason.