Geneva, Switzerland, Mar 7, 2017 / 04:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations reiterated the Vatican’s defense of all human life in a meeting with UN Human Rights Council on the death penalty.
“My Delegation reaffirms that life is sacred ‘from conception to natural death,’ and recalls the words Pope Francis, that ‘even a criminal has the inviolable right to life,’” said Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic last Wednesday.
He cited the words of Pope Francis: “For a constitutional state the death penalty represents a failure, because it obliges a State to kill in the name of justice. But justice is never reached by killing a human being.”
The archbishop also expressed concern for possible failures in human justice which may bring about the death of the wrong person.
“In this regard, one should consider that human justice is fallible and that the death penalty per se is irreversible. We should take into account that capital punishment always includes the possibility of taking the life of an innocent person.”
He also said that there is “insufficient evidence that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on crime.”
Globally, recent years have seen a trend against the death penalty.
Recent studies have shown a decrease in popular opinion of capital punishment. Some 80 percent of the American population favored the death penalty for convicted murders in 1995, but a 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners found that support had dropped to 39 percent.
Fighting this trend is the Philippines, which is considering reinstating the death penalty, after it had been abolished in the country’s 1987 constitution.
Archbishop Jurkovic addressed the need for different avenues aimed at rehabilitation and society’s safety while also respecting life.
“My Delegation believes that more humane measures are available to address crime, ensuring the victim the right to justice and giving the criminal the chance to reform,” he said.
The archbishop reemphasized the goal of ending capital punishment and said that the Vatican supports “as an interim measure, the moratoria established by the 2014 General Assembly resolution.” He ended with an encouragement for better prison conditions and fair trials, regardless of criminal status.
Article Archive
The death penalty doesn't solve problems, archbishop tells UN
Related Articles • More Articles
Father Leo Riley, age 68, continued to serve as a priest for years after a 2020 sexual abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the Diocese of Venice in Florida. / Credit: Charlotte County Sheriff's OfficeCNA Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 19:18 pm (CNA).A Florida priest who was recently arrested on sex abuse charges was permitted to continue in active ministry for nearly three years after a civil sex abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the diocese in which he serves.Father Leo Riley, age 68, continued to serve as a priest for years after a 2020 sexual abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the Diocese of Venice in Florida. The matter came to the forefront this week after Riley was arrested on several sex abuse charges dating back to his time serving as a priest in Iowa decades ago. The Charlotte County, Florida Sheriff's Office said in a press release that deputies arrested Riley in Port Charlotte on April 24 "on multiple counts of capital sexual battery stemmin...
Facade of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons / EEJCCACI Prensa Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).One year after the Spanish newspaper El País published the report "Diary of a Pedophile Priest," which recounted the sexual abuse of minors committed in Bolivia by the deceased Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas, journalists from ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, went to the South American country to look into the political implications of the case, how the scandal has affected the Church's image in Bolivia, and the response of the civil justice system.Pedrajas, better known as "Padre Pica," arrived in South America in the early 1960s as part of his formation process with the Jesuits. For 10 years he lived in Peru and Ecuador, where he allegedly committed his first abuses while still a seminarian, and in 1971 he settled permanently in Bolivia.There the Society of Jesus appointed him assistant principal of the John XXIII Insti...
The members of the general board of directors of the Regnum Christi Federation, before its first general convention from April 29 to May 4, 2024, in Rome. / Credit: Regnum ChristiACI Prensa Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).The Regnum Christi Federation will hold its first general convention in Rome from April 29 to May 4, the first such assembly since its statutes were approved in 2019 after a long process of listening, purification, and a hopeful look toward its future.The ecclesial movement was shaken to the core by the revelation of numerous cases of sexual abuse and abuses of power primarily involving Father Marcial Maciel, the deceased founder of the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement.The Regnum Christi Federation is comprised of four vocations: the Legionaries of Christ (priests), Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi, Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi, and lay members.Regnum Christi is now defined as an apostolic body and spiritual family led by ...