The Vatican issued the definitive Latin language version of its Universal Catechism on September 9, 1997. The primary change in the catechism focuses on legitimate defense and the death penalty . The new version reads: ​“The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude … recourse to the death penalty when it is the only practical way to efficiently defend the lives of human beings from the unjust aggressor.” It continues, ​“Today, in fact, because the means states have to repress crime efficiently and render [criminals] inoffensive . . the cases where it is absolutely necessary to suppress the guilty are today very rare, if not practically non-existent.”