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Voices
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy is the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network. She is the co-author of Advocating for Justice: An Evangelical Vision for Transforming Systems and Structures.
President Joe Biden speaks at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree near the White House on Dec. 5, 2024. Catholic Mobilizing Network has initiated a national petition for Catholics to urge President Biden to commute the sentences of all 40 men currently on federal death row. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Politics & SocietyShort Take
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy
We are at a critical juncture in the U.S. death penalty abolition movement. And we as Catholics—including President Biden—can heed the words of Pope Francis and light the way.
A priest prays with a death-row inmate in 2008 at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Ind. (CNS photo/Tim Hunt, Northwest Indiana Catholic)
FaithShort Take
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy
Why is it that so many of us shed tears in remembering Christ’s execution on Good Friday yet condone the state-sanctioned killing of our neighbors throughout the rest of the year?
Pope Francis is pictured during his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican Sept. 8, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Politics & SocietyFaith and Reason
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy
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.
Auska Mitchell holds a photograph of his nephew, Lezmond Mitchell, on Aug. 21 in the Phoenix area. Lezmond Mitchell is scheduled to be executed this Wednesday, Aug. 26. (AP Photo/Jonathan J. Cooper)
Politics & SocietyShort Take
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy
The Catholic Church and the Navajo Nation stand together in opposition to the execution of Lezmond Mitchell because it, like the racism which brought his death sentence to pass, erodes the sanctity of human life, writes Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy.
FaithFaith in Focus
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy
In the middle lands of these 40 days, I am burdened by the fact that our society has not yet reckoned with the ongoing sin of capital punishment nor the full extent of our country’s racist past.