
Oklahoma City Archbishop Reiterates Calls for End to Death Penalty
Federal court decision just affirmed constitutionality of capital-punishment protocols in the Sooner State.
Federal court decision just affirmed constitutionality of capital-punishment protocols in the Sooner State.
While the Obama, Trump, and now Biden administrations have now pushed to execute Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Archdiocese of Boston has repeatedly called for his sentence to be commuted to life without the possibility of parole.
COMMENTARY: Texas’ denial of John Ramirez’s request for his pastor to lay hands on him and pray for him at his execution goes before the high court Nov. 1.
Archbishop Coakley encouraged those looking to respond to his call to prayer to pray the rosary, spend time in adoration, pray every day explicitly for an end to abortion and capital punishment, and to pray for the respect of all life.
Vaillancourt Murphy said it was “concerning” to see the Biden administration push to execute Tsarnaev, especially considering that President Joe Biden is the “first-ever president to openly oppose the death penalty” while actively serving as president.
In a statement, the Arizona Department of Corrections noted that state law permits death row inmates to choose between dying from lethal injection or gas.
While the Church teaches that capital punishment is not intrinsically evil, both Pope Francis and his immediate predecessors have condemned the practice in the West.
Late last month, Virginia became the latest state to end capital punishment, and more repeals could be on the horizon.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that President Biden was “opposed” to the federal death penalty, but offered no details on a possible stoppage of its use.
Last summer, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops had called the state’s denial of a chaplain for Gutierrez “an egregious rejection of the possibility of forgiveness and redemption while the state commits the violence of an execution.”
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