Today we have to learn all over again that love for the sinner and love for the person who has been harmed are correctly balanced if I punish the sinner in the form that is possible and appropriate. In this respect there was in the past a change of mentality, in which the law and the need for punishment were obscured. Ultimately this also narrowed the concept of law, which in fact is not only just being nice or courteous, but is found in the truth. And another component of the truth is that I must punish the one who has sinned against real love. Pope Benedict XVI
About This Quote

If you try to punish someone for hurting you, you may not be helping the person that was harmed. Ideally, we should be willing to take all actions to help and heal the people that were harmed. It is impossible to undo the harm if we do not first seek to correct it. If we take this approach, we can focus on all of the reasons why a person might hurt another person.

And, as a result, we can create a plan for how to make sure they don’t hurt anyone again. Sometimes, though, our best efforts are not enough. In those cases, we must turn to law as a way of punishing those who have harmed others.

Source: Light Of The World: The Pope, The Church, And The Signs Of The Times A Conversation With Peter Seewald

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