Msgr. Charles Pope: Pondering a Forgotten Virtue: Vengeance
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By Msgr. Charles Pope, Catholic Education Resource Center, May 22, 2022
Msgr. Charles Pope. “Pondering a Forgotten Virtue: Vengeance.” Community in Mission (May 22, 2022).
Msgr. Charles Pope is currently a dean and pastor in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where he has served on the Priest Council, the College of Consultors, and the Priest Personnel Board. Along with publishing a daily blog at the Archdiocese of Washington website, he has written in pastoral journals, conducted numerous retreats for priests and lay faithful, and has also conducted weekly Bible studies in the U.S. Congress and the White House. He was named a Monsignor in 2005.
Most of us think that vengeance is merely a vice.
Given improper intentions or excess or misguided application, vengeance can indeed be a sin and a vice. However, as we read in Scripture, “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay” (Rom 12:19). Or again, as St. Thomas Aquinas notes, the scriptures assure: “Will not God avenge His elect who cry to Him day and night?” (Lk 18:7). But if vengeance is only a vice and an evil, then how can God attribute vengeance to himself? God does nothing evil. Hence in vengeance there is the possibility of virtue and that which is good. According to St. Thomas, vengeance is a special virtue in service of justice.Related posts
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