CNA Staff, Jul 1, 2020 / 17:43 pm
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has asked the Trump administration to halt several scheduled executions after the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from four death row inmates.
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, head of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development at the USCCB, emphasized the Church's position on capital punishment and urged the administration to reconsider the three executions scheduled for July 13.
"Now that the Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeals of four federal death row inmates, and the Justice Department has set new execution dates beginning July 13, I reiterate the call made last July for the Administration to reverse course," he said in a June 30 statement.
"As articulated to the Supreme Court in another case earlier this year, the bishops have been calling for an end to the death penalty for decades," he said. "Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have all called for an end to the death penalty around the world."