U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Chairman Calls for Arkansas to Abandon Scheduled Death Row Executions

WASHINGTON—Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida and Chairman of the USCCBCommittee on Domestic Justice and Human Development issued a statement thismorning in response to the scheduled executions of seven men in 11 days in Arkansas.The state is planning to begin the executions on Easter Monday. Bishop Dewanejoins the Catholic community of Arkansas, and people of good will across thecountry and around the world, in urging Governor Hutchinson to reconsider thisplan.

"This Easter, let us ask the Lord for the graceto infuse our justice with mercy. Maythose in Arkansas who hold the lives of these individuals on death row in theirhands be moved by God's love, which is stronger than death, and abandon thecurrent plans for execution," Bishop Dewane wrote in asking for commutation ofthe sentences of those scheduled to be executed to life imprisonment. 

In his statement, Bishop Dewane noted that PopeFrancis called for "the global abolition of the death penalty," in his 2015address to the U.S. Congress, where the Holy Father said, "I am convinced thatthis way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowedwith an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from therehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. . . . [A] just and necessarypunishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal ofrehabilitation." The Catholic Bishops ofthe United States have echoed this call for many years, including in their 2005statement A Culture of Life and thePenalty of Death.

"It can be very difficult to think of mercy ata time when justice for unthinkable crimes seems to cry out for vengeance,"Bishop Dewane commented, "[t]he harm and pain caused by terrible sin is real." Yet, he invoked Pope Francis' reflection that,"Jesus on the cross prayed for those who had crucified him: 'Father, forgivethem, they know not what they do' (Lk. 23:34). Mercy is the only way to overcome evil. Justice is necessary, very much so, but by itself it is not enough. Justice and mercy must go together."

BishopDewane's full statement can be found here: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/death-penalty-capital-punishment/upload/Bishop-Dewane-Statement-on-Death-Penalty-in-Arkansas-2017-04-13.pdf

---

Keywords:U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,USCCB, Bishop Frank J. Dewane, Committee on Domestic Justice and HumanDevelopment, Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson, death penalty, execution,justice, mercy, punishment, Congress, Pope Francis, human dignity, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death,St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, crimevictims, solidarity, incarceration.

###