In and out of the Catholic Church (and other institutions as well), most people who oppose one kind of death-dealing violence seem to have a puzzling tolerance for some other form of killing.

Anti-abortion absolutists, for the most part, not only tolerate, but often strongly support, warmongering and/or capital punishment. And the converse is equally true: many pacifists and opponents of the death penalty support what's known as "a woman's right to choose."

I suppose we have our two-party system to thank for this phenomemon; people tend to take their cues for what to believe from those with whom they feel allied.

The Pope's official stance, opposing *all* these forms of killing, is very rarely held by individuals in the real world. The institutional church itself is certainly inconsistent, denying Communion to pro-choice Catholic politicians but showing no such compunction to discipline death-warrant signers and proponents of unilateral military action.

-PoppaGator, formerly Catholic peacenik