The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace says that Christians are called to work for the abolition of “the death penalty, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against the human person,†calling such practices “grave crimes against the human person.” Read more.
Tags: Death Penalty
Zenit news reported today (11/4)that a delegation led by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the Community of Sant’Egidio delivered a petition on November 2 to the United Nations signed by 5 million people from 154 countries calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty. According to the leader of the delegation, “the death penalty lowers the state and civil sociaty to the level of a killer, and …legitimat[es] a culture of death.” The permanent observer of the Holy See to the U.N. expressed the view that the death penalty “undermines human dignity” and that “the right to life is the proper context” to deal with this issue. The U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee is expected to vote on the moratorium later this month. A positive vote there would result in a vote being put to the General Assembly of the U.N. in December.