“The huge thing,” she said, is the recognition by the church of “the inviolable dignity even of guilty people who have done terrible crimes.”
Death Penalty
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Death penalty change shows ‘true dogmatic progress,’ says Archbishop Fisichella
Pope Francis’ revision of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to assert that capital punishment is morally inadmissible shows how the church can grow in its understanding of the implications of basic tenets of faith.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
U.S. Catholic bishops, advocacy groups welcome change on death penalty
Pope Francis has revised the church’s catechism to state that the death penalty is no longer admissible.
Posted inFaith, Video
Sister Helen Prejean on Pope Francis’ revision of the death penalty teaching | DEVELOPING STORY
Sister Helen Prejean, an anti-death penalty activist and author of the book Dead Man Walking, joins Kevin Clarke to discuss Pope Francis’ revision of the death penalty teaching.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis revises Catechism, teaches that death penalty is ‘inadmissible’
The revised teaching declares that the death penalty is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, and that the church works “for its abolition worldwide.”
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Tennessee’s Catholic bishops urge governor to halt upcoming executions
Bishops J. Mark Spalding of Nashville, Richard F. Stika of Knoxville and Martin D. Holley of Memphis have written to Gov. Bill Haslam urging him to “use your authority as governor to put an end to the fast-track executions planned” in the state of Tennessee in the upcoming months.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Nebraska Catholic bishops oppose execution of death-row inmate
Encouraging an act of mercy and arguing it would not compromise justice, Nebraska’s three Catholic bishops said July 6 they oppose the scheduled execution in August of death-row inmate Carey Dean Moore.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
California has over 700 people on death row and executions could begin soon
In California, Catholic opponents of the death penalty are trying to protect the largest population of inmates awaiting execution in the Western Hemisphere.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Applying the death penalty for drug offenses degrades the U.S. justice system
To suggest the use of the death penalty as a way to address the opioid epidemic ignores what we know already to be true: The death penalty is a flawed and broken tool in the practical pursuit of justice.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Victims’ families say the death penalty inhibits their healing.
Our January 24 guest is Lisa Murtha, an award-winning freelance journalist based in southwest Ohio. We speak to her about her recent article for America, “These families lost loved ones to violence. Now they are fighting the death penalty.“ We also discuss these topics: Pope Francis explains why he celebrated the airborne marriage of two flight attendants […]