The Pope and the death penalty

The Pope recently said that the death penalty should no longer be used in any circumstance. That's fine, even though I disagree. He also said that life in prison shouldn't be used at all either. That's not fine. In fact, it shows a shocking naivety. This isn't a Catholic blog, but it got me thinking. If Russell Nelson, the prophet and president of the LDS church, said something like that would I feel the same way? The answer is yes, I would.

When you are the leader of the large organization-church, social, business, government, etc-you can very easily become deluded. You are surrounded by people who in some ways, fall your feet and practically worship you. If they don't go that far, they certainly hang on your every word and wait for whatever you are going to say next. It's easy to get a warped ego. It's also easy to forget how the real world works. There are very, very evil people out there. Some want to do nothing but hurt innocent people for their own gain. These people need to be stopped, and sometimes it takes more than "You leave them alone and be nice or no seconds on dessert young man." Sometimes yes, it takes force. More importantly, bad people need to be punished. Life in prison and/or the death penalty isn't pretty, but it's a necessity in this fallen world. In order to defend innocent people, sometimes you need to take drastic and severe measures.