Hartford, Conn., Jan 6, 2005 / 22:00 pm
With less than 20 days before Connecticut’s first execution in 44 years, Catholics in the state are being urged to make their voices heard and sign of petition against the death penalty at church after mass this weekend.
Archbishop Henry Mansell, an advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, issued a letter to parishes.
“While conceding that the state has the duty to maintain public order and the right to punish convicted criminals, we, the Roman Catholic Church of Connecticut, express our considered opposition to the death penalty,” wrote the archbishop.
The Pope shares this view, having expressed it several times publicly and in an encyclical.