VATICAN CITY — The Vatican Thursday altered the Catechism’s wording on the permissibility of the death penalty, which the Church teaches is legitimate in extreme cases, stating it is “inadmissible,” and its elimination will be sought.

A new draft of paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Aug. 2, after Pope Francis approved it in May.

Quoting Pope Francis’ words in a speech of Oct. 11, 2017, the new paragraph states, in part, that “the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”

Reasons for modifying the teaching, the paragraph says, include: the increasing effectiveness of detention systems, growing understanding of the unchanging dignity of the person, and leaving open the possibility of conversion.

In a letter to bishops Aug. 2, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave a brief overview of developments to the Church’s teaching on the death penalty over the last decades, and the perspective of the three most recent popes.

He noted, in particular, Pope St. John Paul II’s teachings in Evangelium Vitae (The Value and Inviolability of Human Life), which were subsequently added to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, presenting the death penalty as not a proportionate penalty for the gravity of certain crimes, though justifiable if “the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively.”

“The new revision … situates itself in continuity with the preceding Magisterium while bringing forth a coherent development of Catholic doctrine,” Cardinal Ladaria wrote.

“The new formulation of number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church desires to give energy to a movement towards a decisive commitment to favor a mentality that recognizes the dignity of every human life,” he said.