Latest / Best of: Features / Pope Leo declares death penalty 'inadmissible' as his native US plans to livestream execution

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Pope Leo declares death penalty 'inadmissible' as his native US plans to livestream execution · Best of: Features

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  Pope Leo declares death penalty inadmissible as his native US plans to
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  livestream execution This article is being
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  read by an automated voice generated by Everlet. Rome, the AP, Pope
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  Leo XV on Saturday, declared capital punishment inadmissible as he marked the
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  World Day against the Death Penalty, and his native United States announced
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  plans to live stream an execution by firing squad. In a post
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  on a texts, the American Pope quoted the revised Catholic teaching on
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  capital punishment, ushered in by Pope Francis, that the death penalty attacks
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  the inherent dignity of a human being. The common good can be
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  safeguarded, and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to
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  capital punishment. Read the post under Leo's official handle at Pontifex. Effective
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  systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens, while at the
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  same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the
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  possibility of redemption. The post ended with a hashtag hashtag no death
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  penalty. The US Defense Department announced Thursday that the firing squad execution
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  of Nadal Malik Hassan, convicted of a two thousand nine shooting at
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  the Fort Hood military base, will be live streamed. Hassan, scheduled to
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  be executed at Fort Hood on december third, was convicted of killing
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  thirteen people and wounding thirty two others. US President Donald Trump said
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  Saturday he would be making a decision ultimately on whether the execution
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  would be livestreamed. Leo didn't refer specifically to the planned execution or
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  the botched lethal injection in Tennessee earlier, that has revived debate over
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  the death penalty in the United States. Saturday is World Day against
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  the death penalty, and it is common for the Pope's official social
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  media accounts to post messages marking such commemorations. But Leo's post came
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  just hours after his top deputy, Cardinal Pietro Perolin, the Vatican Secretary
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  of State, said explicitly that the planned US public execution was unacceptable.
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  Pope Francis declared capital punishment inadmissible. Pope Francis in twenty eighteen amended
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  official Catholic teaching to declare capital punishment inadmissible in all circumstances. Previously,
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  the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official compendium of church teaching,
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  said the Church didn't exclude recourse to capital punishment, if this is
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  the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust
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  aggressor. Past popes had upheld that position, though Saint John Paul II
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  began urging an end to the practice, and stressed that guilty people
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  were just as deserving of dignity as innocent ones. Like Francis before
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  him, Leo has made visiting prisons a key part of his papal
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  travel in a bid to give a message of hope to inmates
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  and underscore their inherent dignity, that God loves the and that there
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  is always a chance for redemption. If any of you fear being
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  abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that
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  the church will stand by your side. Leo told inmates at the
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  notorious Bata prison in Equatorial Guinea during his visit in April. Leo
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  is to visit a prison in Buenos Aires during his upcoming tour
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  through Latin America. Speaking specifically about the United States, Cardinal Pietro Perolin,
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  the Vatican Secretary of State, said the planned livestreamed execution was truly
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  incomprehensible, and unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle. The Church's position
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  is one of total opposition to the death penalty, it is incompatible
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  with human dignity, and serves as no deterrent, Parallel said in comments
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  carried by Vatican News. It is truly incomprehensible that any done would
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  want to use this system to day. I don't know for what
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  purpose. It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle, even
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  if the person is guilty, of course, there are other methods. The
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  head of the U.S. Bishop's Conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed shock and
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  great sorrow at the Pentagon's plans. In no way can Hassan's actions
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  be condoned, but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture
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  of death and must be reconsidered, he said in a statement Friday.
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  The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will
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  only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation, and be a
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  blight on the conscience of its people. Associated Press Religion Coverage receives
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  support through the AP's collaboration with the Conversation US, with funding from
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  Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.