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.
Death Penalty
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.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Governor Northam signs death penalty repeal at site of 101 executions in Virginia since 1991
While standing outside the prison that housed Virginia’s execution chamber, Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in the state March 24.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Virginia’s lawmakers vote to abolish the death penalty. Catholic activists helped make it happen.
Virginia is on its way to becoming the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty and, significantly, the first formerly Confederate state to achieve abolition.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Sotomayor: 13 executed under Trump administration ‘deserved more’ from Supreme Court
“There can be no justice on the fly in matters of life and death.”
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
My friend on death row drew me the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It inspires me to be a better Jesuit every day.
A picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hangs above my bed and is one of my most precious possessions. Its artist, like Jesus, has been condemned to die for his crimes.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
What will it take to end the death penalty? Catholic activists say a more visceral approach is needed.
The rush of federal executions was an “aberration” that does not reflect the great successes of the death penalty abolition movement in recent years.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Sister Helen Prejean on Trump and Barr’s cruel spree of executions
For 17 years the attorneys general of the United States did not pursue death even though that power was in their hands, then you hit somebody like Trump.’