Capital punishment in Vatican City

Capital punishment in Vatican City was legal between 1929 and 1969, reserved for attempted assassination of the Pope, but has never been applied there.

As Vatican City is a sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Pope, who is the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church, its laws are influenced by Church teaching.The moral liceity of the death penalty had support from early Catholic theologians, though some of them such as Saint Ambrose encouraged members of the clergy not to pronounce or carry out capital punishment.

[3] Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus argued that civil authority to carry out capital punishment was supported by scripture.

[2] The Roman Catechism (1566) codified the teaching that God had entrusted civil authorities with the power over life and death.

[1] The change came to public attention only in January 1971 after reporters had accused Paul VI of hypocrisy for his criticisms of planned executions in Spain and the Soviet Union.

Giovanni Battista Bugatti , executioner of the Papal States between 1796 and 1865, carried out 516 executions *(Bugatti pictured offering snuff to a condemned prisoner in front of Castel Sant'Angelo )* .