Anarcho-Catholicism

Catholics ought, nowadays, to be anarchists, in that they should be in favor of the abolition of all currently constituted states. This is proved by the following argument:

1. Capital punishment is not intrinsically wrong in principle, when exercised by a legitimate state.

2. Pope Francis, whose authority should be believed by Catholics, has told us that capital punishment is intrinsically wrong in principle.

3. Therefore, Catholics should believe that all current states are illegitimate, and so, have no right to exercise capital punishment.

Edward Feser has proved in his various writings on the subject, chief of which is his book, By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed, that the first premise is authoritatively contained in Catholic tradition, and cannot be denied by orthodox Catholics.

The second premise is the most plausible interpretation of some statements of Pope Francis, chief of which is his revision of paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in which the death penalty is condemned as an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, which are clearly principled moral grounds. This can only be true if no current states are legitimate; so, the conclusion follows.

Edward Feser himself has admitted this about the revision of the Catechism, but he has avoided the conclusion by claiming that the Pope was saying that capital punishment has always been intrinsically wrong, and therefore was committing a doctrinal error in the statement, since it is certainly true that some past states have been legitimate.

But the sentence is more straightforwardly read as being only about the present, and it is not equally certainly true that any contemporary states are legitimate. State legitimacy, in the moral sense of the term, is not a visible thing, and there are, therefore, no philosophical or empirical grounds to believe that any particular state is legitimate. There being no such grounds, the pious Catholic is certainly authorized by reason, as well as required by obedience, to believe the safe teaching of the Pope, and therefore to believe that no current states are legitimate at all.

So, rather than accuse the Pope of error, I have changed my mind slightly on my earlier doctrine that taxation is not theft. Although taxation is not always, in principle, theft, it is actually theft under all current conditions, since there are no legitimate states on this earth.