In a radio interview last week from London, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a Catholic, declared that interrogators can inflict suffering and pain on their prisoners to find out vital information - not only to locate a hypothetical bomb about to explode, but even to learn the plans or whereabouts of suspected terrorists.

The conservative jurist, however, acknowledged that deciding when and what physical coercion could be used are troublesome queries. "I don't know, stick something under the fingernail, smack him in the face," he mused on the BBC's "Law in Action" program. "It would be absurd to say you couldn't do that."

Later in the interview, Scalia morosely speculated, "How close does the threat have to be? And how severe can the infliction of pain be? I don't think these are easy questions at all, in either direction."

But the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as well as recent popes, unequivocally proclaims there are no gray areas when it comes to employing torture.

"Torture, which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity," it states.

Unspeakable cruel practices were commonly used by rulers and governments in the past to maintain law and order. Often there was no protest from local bishops and other prelates, who adopted in their own church tribunals the legal prescriptions of Roman law permitting torture, the Catechism reports, in a veiled reference to the infamous Inquisition.

"Regrettable as these facts are, the church always taught the duty of clemency and mercy," it further notes. "She forbade clerics to shed blood. In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person.

"On the contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors."

On June 27, 2004, Pope John Paul II called for a complete ban on what he called an "intolerable violation of human rights," saying acts of torture are "radically contrary to the dignity of man."

In another statement, he stressed, "The church and believers cannot remain insensitive and passive, therefore, before the multiplication of denunciations of torture and ill-treatment practiced in various countries on persons arrested, interrogated or else put in a state of supervision or confinement."

Likewise, Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the torture of prisoners, by both Third World and developed nations' governments and warring factions. "I reiterate that the prohibition against torture cannot be contravened under any circumstances," the pope last year told members of the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care - including San Gabriel Regional Bishop Gabino Zavala - in Rome.

- R. W. Dellinger