In 1981, Mehmet Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II while the pontiff was in a motorcade at St. Peter’s Square. The Pope almost died but recovered from his wounds. Two years later, on December 27, 1983 JPII met with his assassin forgiving him of the act that almost took Pope St John Paul’s life. Ali Agca had served the previous two years in prison for his crime and the Italian government pardoned him following the Pope’s absolution for the sin.
On July 5, 1902 in Corinaldo, Italy Alessandro Serenelli attempted to rape Maria Goretti. Maria was 12 years old at the time and had cared for her siblings while her Mother worked after the death of her Father. When Maria fought back against Alessandro’s advances he stabbed her multiple times leading to her death from her wounds. Before she died she proclaimed her forgiveness of Alessandro wishing for him to share paradise in heaven with her. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his crime and remained unrepentant until, 8 years into his sentence, Maria appeared to him in his cell offering him lilies which miraculously turned to flame. She then disappeared. From that moment on Alessandro repented of his crime and changed his life. He later testified as a witness to her miracle during her beatification process.
In today’s first reading from 2 Samuel we see King David being confronted with his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and causing the death of her husband Uriah. The prophet Nathan uses a parable of a rich and a poor neighbor. The rich one has large flocks of sheep while the poor one has a single ewe (female) lamb who he cares for “as if it were his daughter”. When the rich neighbor gets a visitor he decides to hold a feast for the guest but does not want to take from his own flock. Instead he takes, sacrifices and serves the poor farmer’s one lamb for the dinner. David’s reaction is indignation for the act of the rich neighbor and demands that he should be made to pay the poor farmer 4 fold for his actions. Nathan points out to David that he is, in fact, that rich neighbor in his dealings with Bathsheba and Uriah. Taking Uriah the Hittite’s only wife while David has many wives of his own.
We know that God forgives David because he goes on to become what most believe to be the greatest King Israel has ever seen. And restores his relationship with the Lord as evidenced in the Psalms of which David penned many. So God forgives David, but was justice done for David’s sins? Was there a price he had to pay in order to repay for his crimes? We see in the readings that David son, from his relationship with Bathsheba, becomes ill and eventually dies. God even goes so far as to give David’s wives over to his neighbor for him to lie with them in public as a display to David’s subjects of his sins.
In each of these cases, the Pope’s assassin, Maria Goretti’s assailant and King David the offender is forgiven AND punished so that justice is served. The concept of forgiveness and punishment, then, are not mutually exclusive. In fact, research published in the journal The Conversation, demonstrates that offended victims were more likely to grant forgiveness if they felt that the offender had received some form of justice for their act. Forgiveness does not mean that punishment, or justice, must be dropped from the equation. Let’s look at a couple definitions to put this in better perspective:
Forgiveness – an intentional decision to let go of resentment and anger
Punishment – the infliction or imposition of a penalty as a retribution for an offense
Justice – the ethical, philosophical idea that people are to be treated impartially, fairly, properly, and reasonably by the law and by arbiters of the law, that laws are to ensure that no harm befalls another, and that, where harm is alleged, a remedial action is taken
So it can be seen that forgiveness can be granted to a person even if that person receives a just punishment for their offense. However, meeting out justice does not mean doing so as a form of revenge. What is revenge?
Revenge – an act or instance of retaliating in order to get even.
Revenge is not proportional and it is typically done under anger as a result of the harm inflicted by the offender. It is emotionally driven with the goal to cause excessive injury beyond that originally propagated on the victim.
This concept can also be applied to the theology of purgatory. Protestants do not accept the Catholic idea of purgatory partially because they claim that Jesus already died for our sins and sins committed are forgiven already and there is no need for a place of “purging”. It is true that we are forgiven by God when we ask and are repentant. Especially since, as Catholics, we believe in the forgiveness we receive in Reconciliation. So, why do we need purgatory? For the same reason Pope St John Paul’s family and the family of Maria Goretti expected justice be done for the crimes committed. Even though Maria and the Pope forgave their attackers, a penalty had to be given to even the relationship. Just as God expects as to become purified of our venial sins through a kind of temporal punishment in purgatory. In this way we will be cleansed sufficiently to enter into God’s presence.
The last point I want to make is that I don’t believe the act of granting forgiveness should be contingent on the other person receiving justice. While we can expect that appropriate punishment will be applied, we should not withhold forgiveness until that is achieved. Forgiveness is a gift that the victim gives freely to the offender. Separate from the punishment part. I have a family member who was genuinely hurt by the words of another family member and the victim expects that the offender should show some action that demonstrates that the offender is working on not having the behavior be repeated. But she is withholding mercy and forgiveness until she is sufficiently satisfied that the appropriate action has in fact taken place. This is not true forgiveness. We rescind the anger and resentment that characterizes forgiveness separately from the punishment being applied. Maria forgave Alessandro but he still needed to serve his sentence for the crime.
So don’t mix up forgiveness and punishment. They are not mutually exclusive but are different sides of the same coin. May we all freely and generously forgive while also seeking justice.
