Issues

Nonviolence . . . Human trafficking . . . Women . . . . The elderly . . . Immigrants' rights . . . Housing. . . Children . . . Prisoners' rights . . . Health care . . . World Hunger . . . Globalization, as it affects Latin America . . . Care of the earth . . . Seamless ethic of life

Note: The ideas and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author's and should not be ascribed to the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes or its members.





Friday, August 2, 2019

Tell the Justice Department that Christians Oppose the Death Penalty


Recently Attorney General William Barr directed the Trump Justice Department to bring back the barbaric and ineffective death penalty, and immediately schedule the first five federal executions in 16 years.

There are many reasons why Christians and churches across the country oppose capital punishment: DNA testing proves hundreds of innocent people have been sentenced to die. It is expensive. And the racial disparities within the system are the very height of injustice. Above all, we know that it is simply immoral. Christians are called to forgive, to embrace grace, and quite clearly to follow the command, "You shall not kill."  


Statement from Pope Francis.
“Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.
Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes.  In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. 
Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.

Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide”.
Address to Participants in the Meeting organized by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, 11 October 2017: L’Osservatore Romano, 13 October 2017.

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