Return to Tradition reads St Vincent of Lérins on doctrine, but gets his century and the Catechisms wrong

In the Commonitorium Vincent refers to “the holy council which some three years ago was held at Ephesus”, which met in 431 (Commonitorium, ch. 29). The Catholic Encyclopedia dates the work to 434 (Catholic Encyclopedia). It belongs to the fifth century. Vincent discusses the Arian crisis of the previous century as an example; he did not write during it.

The Catechism of the Council of Trent taught that civil authorities have lawful “power over life and death”, and that its just use is “an act of paramount obedience” to the fifth commandment (Roman Catechism). That teaching described a lawful power, not a duty. John Paul II, keeping it, judged cases requiring execution “very rare, if not practically non-existent” (Evangelium Vitae 56).

Since 2018 the Catechism teaches that “the death penalty is inadmissible” (CCC 2267). The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith called the revision “an authentic development of doctrine that is not in contradiction with the prior teachings of the Magisterium” (CDF letter, n. 8).

John Paul II declared the Catechism of the Catholic Church “a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion and a sure norm for teaching the faith” (Fidei depositum).