The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Kidnapping and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong. Terrorism threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity. 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. Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.

Mayor Giuliani’s position (as he explained it during a recent GOP debate):

MR. HUME: Mayor Giuliani, the former director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, the current head of the CIA have both said that the most valuable intelligence tool they have had has been the information gained from what are called enhanced interrogation techniques to include, presumably, water-boarding.

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What is your view whether such techniques should be applied in a scenario like the one I described?

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MR. GIULIANI: In the hypothetical that you gave me, which assumes that we know there’s going to be another attack and these people know about it, I would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they could think of. It shouldn’t be torture, but every method they can think of –

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MR. HUME: Water-boarding?

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MR. GIULIANI: — and I would — and I would — well, I’d say every method they could think of, and I would support them in doing that because I’ve seen what — (interrupted by applause) — I’ve seen what can happen when you make a mistake about this, and I don’t want to see another 3,000 people dead in New York or any place else.

While Mayor Giuliani claims that he does not favor “torture” in the quote above, it is difficult to interpret his words as expressing anything but a willingness to sanction torture under the “right” circumstances.  This is, of course, yet another example of Mayor Giuliani holding a public-policy position that evinces a blatant disregard for the sanctity of life.