Ivan Cantu was executed Feb. 28 by the state of Texas despite claims that his conviction was based on false testimony.
Death Penalty
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Smith may already be dead by the time you read this.
Alabama plans to put an industrial-grade respirator mask over Mr. Smith’s face and replace his breathing air with pure nitrogen gas, causing him to die from lack of oxygen. He will not be rendered unconscious before the procedure begins.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
A prayer for death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith
Kenneth Eugene Smith will face execution by the state of Alabama tonight. I pray that God may grant him peace.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
‘Dead Man Walking’: An operatic exploration of Sister Helen Prejean’s death row ministry
“Dead Man Walking” is a deeply human story about truth, forgiveness and the possibility of redemption. It is a journey into which everyone—from the singers to the audience—is invited.
Posted inFaith, News
Louisiana’s Catholic Democratic governor calls on his ‘pro-life state’ to abolish the death penalty
Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-La., called for an end to the death penalty in Louisiana during his final State of the State address in an impassioned call for lawmakers to adopt legislative proposals reflecting its identity as a “pro-life state.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
The death penalty’s 2022 lowlight: a record number of botched executions
According to the Death Penalty Information Center: “Seven of the 20 execution attempts were visibly problematic—an astonishing 37 percent—as a result of executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves.”
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
The Biden administration must vote to abolish the death penalty at the U.N. this week
Why would President Biden—who has done so much to repair America’s alliances abroad—have us side with Iran, Saudi Arabia and North Korea in voting for continued use of the death penalty in the world?
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
In Bahrain, Pope Francis calls for full religious freedom and an end to the death penalty
Commitments to protect tolerance and religious freedom need to be put into practice constantly so that these rights may be fully experienced, Pope Francis said.
Posted inPodcasts, Politics & Society
The death penalty promises retribution. Restorative justice offers healing.
To kick off October’s “Respect Life” month on “The Gloria Purvis Podcast,” Gloria speaks with Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy about how a Catholic vision of restorative justice must guide our advocacy against the death penalty.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Archbishop Cordileone: It is past time to strike down the death penalty
Pope Francis has asked Catholics to pray this September for an end to the death penalty, and we should ask ourselves a key question: Is it really necessary to kill in order to protect society?