The Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a 6-3 vote.
Death Penalty
Posted inFaith, Features
I’ve been on death row for 23 years. Catholic Mass gives me hope in the midst of my suffering.
“I returned to my Catholic upbringing, professing a faith I did not completely feel, because I was suffering and needed answers from God,” writes Lyle C. May, who is on death row in North Carolina.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Sister Helen Prejean and Archbishop Coakley applaud decision to commute Julius Jones’ death sentence
“We are grateful that the governor has prevented an irreparable mistake.”
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Archbishop Coakley of Oklahoma City: A culture of life means an end to the death penalty
We must ask ourselves whether executing people on death row is truly a matter of public safety or merely a state-sanctioned tool for exacting the public’s demand for revenge.
Posted inFaith and Reason, Politics & Society
Pope Francis has shown the U.S. a new path for ending the death penalty—for good.
Last year, Pope Francis said, “There can be no stepping back” from the church’s opposition to the death penalty. It is time to put this teaching into action and stop executions in the United States for good.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
A Prayer for the End of the Death Penalty
God who is justice, let the systems of justice we build on earth reflect your love for all creation. Let them value redemption over punishment, future over past, life over death.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Pope Francis calls for clemency for death row inmate Ernest Johnson
Pope Francis has joined the chorus of people calling on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to grant clemency to a death row inmate who is set to be executed for killing three people during a 1994 convenience store robbery.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
After federal executions pause, activists call on Biden to end the death penalty for good
Activists who oppose the death penalty said the Justice Department’s temporary stop of federal executions is a step in the right direction — but not enough.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Biden Justice Department halts federal executions, orders review of protocols
The Justice Department is halting federal executions after a historic use of capital punishment by the Trump administration, which carried out 13 executions in six months.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
‘He loved my Cajun jokes!’ Sister Helen Prejean on Daniel Berrigan
Sometimes people can work for justice and they become so doggone serious that it is kind of heavy to be with them. It was never heavy to be with Dan.