-
-
-
California Catholic Conference: Resources from the California Bishops' Conference
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Killing Isn't Justice website -
Religious Statements on the Death Penalty
"The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy is a propitious occasion to promote in the world a growing maturity for ways to respect life and the dignity of each person. Because even a criminal has the inviolable right to life, a gift of God. I appeal to the consciences of leaders, that they come to an international consensus aimed at abolishing the death penalty. And to those among them who are Catholic, may they carry out an act of courage, giving an example that the death penalty not be applied in this Holy Year of Mercy." (Pope Francis, February 21, 2016)
**********************"In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation." (Pope Francis, Address to U.S. Congress, September 24, 2015)
**********************"I greet the distinguished delegations from various countries taking part in the meeting promoted by the Community of Sant’Egidio on the theme: No Justice without Life. I express my hope that your deliberations will encourage the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty and to continue the substantive progress made in conforming penal law both to the human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order." (Pope Benedict, November 30, 2011)
Video: Pope Benedict encouraging the promotion of initiatives to eliminate the death penalty.
***********************
"The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary." (Pope John Paul II, St. Louis, MO, January 1999)
*************************
"Punishment cannot be reduced to mere retribution, much less take the form of social retaliation or a sort of institutional vengeance. Punishment and imprisonment have meaning if they serve the rehabilitation of the individual by offering those who have made a mistake an opportunity to reflect and to change their lives in order to be fully reintegrated into society." (Pope John Paul II, Jubilee Homily to Prisoners, Rome, July 2002)
************************
"Ending the death penalty would be one important step away from a culture of death and toward building a culture of life.” (United States Catholic Bishops, 2005)
Pro-Life and the Catholic Campaign
to End Use of the Death PenaltyUSCCB Respect Life Materials on the Death Penalty
LIFE MATTERS: THE DEATH PENALTY (Included in Respect Life Materials 2011) (PDF)
Do you know the story about the heinous crime against St. Maria Goretti? Learn what the Bishops have to say about the miracle of transformation.
**************************************************************************************
DIVINE MERCY AND THE DEATH PENALTY BY MOST REVEREND ROBERT W. FINN (PDF)
"The greater the misery of a soul, the greater its right to My mercy. . . . On the cross, the fountain of My Mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls—no one have I excluded!"
(Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1182)"Help us O God of our salvation; ...according to thy great power, preserve those doomed to die!"
(Psalm 79:9, 11)In January of 1999, Pope John Paul II made a pastoral visit to St. Louis. When he met with Governor Mel Carnahan of Missouri, the Holy Father asked him to commute the death sentence of Darrell Mease, who was scheduled to be executed in the next weeks. Carnahan granted the Pope’s wish, saying he was moved by the Pope’s appeal for mercy.
Death Penalty Moratorium and Abolition Links
The Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty
The Catholic bishops in the United States have been calling for an end to the use of the death penalty for more than twenty-five years. In 2005, they invited Catholics to join them in an ongoing “Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty.” This Web site, features resources to help you learn about the Catholic Church’s teaching and action to end the use of the death penalty in the United States.
Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty
The Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty was launched on January 25, 2009. The Network is working in collaboration with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Its goal: to put the Church’s teaching about the death penalty into action.
The Catholic Mobilizing Network seeks to foster respectful dialogue about the death penalty by offering educational tools and meaningful actions to schools, parishes, church groups, community groups, and individual leaders and laypersons.
Public opinion polls reveal that support for the death penalty is decreasing, including among Catholics. This trend has been manifested in a variety of ways from legislative changes to steadily diminishing execution rates. Fostering this growing American reluctance to condemn or execute is consistent with Church teaching and promotes the sanctity of all human life.
Please check out their materials, many of which are being translated into Spanish.
California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty
Download CPF BrochureCPF is a statewide interfaith organization working to educate and mobilize faith communities to act to abolish the death penalty in California.
California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty works closely with California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Murder Victims Families for Human Rights and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation. California People of Faith recognizes and remember the victims.
As people of faith, we believe that God calls us to something more: a high and often difficult standard of love and forgiveness and justice that is rooted not in retribution but rather in redemption and restoration. The death penalty denies the sacredness of human life. Spiritually, the death penalty robs us all.
Healing and support for everyone affected by the criminal justice system.
RestoreJustice.com is an outreach of the California Catholic Conference offering healing and support to everyone affected by the criminal justice system throughout the U.S.
The purpose of RestoreJustice.com is to offer a place of compassion and assistance, resources and services and educational information for anyone who is affected by crime - victims of crime, offenders and their families, corrections staff, chaplains, criminal justice system employees and management, and advocates for restorative justice.
Catholics Against Capital Punishment
Founded in 1992, CACP strives to insure that members of the clergy and laypeople -- both Catholic and non-Catholic -- are aware of, and understand the seriousness of, Church teachings on capital punishment.
It seeks to instill in elected officials the courage to resist the temptation to support the death penalty as a politically-expedient way of promoting themselves as "tough on crime."
Its newsletter, CACP News Notes, disseminates news about Catholic-oriented anti-death penalty efforts to its individual members, diocesan social concerns offices, members of the hierarchy, and others.
Death Penalty Information Center
The Death Penalty Information Center is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with the most current analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. The Center was founded in 1990 and prepares in-depth reports, issues press releases, conducts briefings for journalists, and serves as a resource to those working on this issue. The Center is widely quoted and consulted by all those concerned with the death penalty.
DPIC offers the most up-to-date materials in Spanish and English, has developed an educational curriculum and features a student/teacher resource center on their webpage.
Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project:
In 2002, Tim Robbins wrote the stage play of DEAD MAN WALKING based on Sister Helen Prejean’s best-selling book. Several years earlier, in 1995, Tim directed the critically acclaimed film of the same name, starring Susan Sarandon—who won an Oscar for her performance as Sister Helen—and Sean Penn. The DEAD MAN WALKING School Theatre Project (the Play Project, for short) is an opportunity to broaden discussion about the death penalty and involve schools and their local communities in an inter-disciplinary dialogue about this major social issue. The website is designed to help schools get involved in the Play Project and to provide resources and support for schools that are already taking part.
Death Penalty Discourse Network:
Sister Helen Prejean is one of the best-known voices speaking against the death penalty in the United States and worldwide. She travels extensively, giving, on average, 140 lectures a year, seeking to ignite public discourse on the issue. Her books, Dead Man Walking and The Death of Innocents, have reached people around the world and have helped engage millions of people in dialogue about state executions. During those times she is not on the road, Sister Helen's work is based at the Death Penalty Discourse Network in New Orleans.
* National Coalition to End the Death Penalty
* National Coalition to End the Death Penalty – En Espanol -
Reflections on Church Teaching
The nature and extent of the punishment ought not to go to the extreme of executing the offender, except in cases of absolute necessity…Today, however, as a result of steady improvements in…the penal system, such cases are very rare if not practically nonexistent.
—Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae #56 (1995)
If…non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church #2267Ending the death penalty would be one important step away from a culture of death and toward building a culture of life.
—U.S. Bishops, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death (2005) -
Archdiocese of San Francisco
Office of Human Life & Dignity
Contact the Restorative Justice Ministry
One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco CA 94109
Office: (415) 614-5572 + Fax: (415) 614-5572