Death Penalty

“The death penalty neither deters others, nor brings this perpetrator to understanding, but instead, in the worst of ironies, publicly validates the very act of taking a human life.”
~ Bishop Peter A. Libasci

The Catechism of the Catholic Church holds that the “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, and the Church works with determination for its abolition worldwide.” (CCC, 2267)

We oppose the death penalty for the same fundamental reason that we oppose things like abortion and physician-assisted suicide: they violate the human dignity that each human being possesses from the moment of conception. As the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has said, “God created and loves every person, and we should respond to this love with reverence for the dignity of every human life, no matter how broken, unformed, disabled, or challenged that life may seem.”

“Where life is involved, the service of charity must be profoundly consistent. It cannot tolerate bias and discrimination, for human life is sacred and inviolable at every stage and in every situation; it is an indivisible good. We need then to "show care" for all life and for the life of everyone.” – Pope St. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter The Gospel of Life, 87.

Testimony:

HB 455 – Relative to the Penalty for Capital Murder – February 19, 2019

Educational Bulletin:

Catholic Citizenship News: What Every Catholic Should Know About the Death Penalty 

Read More:

Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 2267  

Pope John Paul II, Encyclical The Gospel of Life

Parish Suggestions to Support Repeal of the Death Penalty

USCCB Statements on Death Penalty