Regarding the news brief in the Catholic News Herald’s May 1 edition titled, “Pope Leo encourages death penalty abolitionists,” Pope Leo XIV’s witness to efforts to abolish the death penalty is morally courageous and sets an example for all of us.
Heinous acts of violence cannot be undone. Victims and their families unquestionably need consolation and support. However, killing the killers only perpetuates the cycle of violence. Capital punishment – be it lethal injection, lethal gas, firing squad or electrocution – is permanent, final and irreversible. Execution leaves no chance for redemption for the perpetrator. It also does not allow for the exoneration of the wrongfully-convicted innocent.
Our state and national justice systems legally allow capital punishment; morally, God’s justice and mercy do not.
Anne McDonald Cochran lives in Indian Trail.