New Mexico's Roman Catholic governor last week signed legislation that abolished the death penalty after discussing the issue with a Roman Catholic archbishop.
In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley also a Catholic marched against capital punishment in a failed attempt earlier this month to eliminate executions in his state.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, who converted to Catholicism as a young man, said that despite efforts in other states to abolish capital punishment, he has no qualms about the death penalty, which is law in Louisiana. He wants to extend capital punishment to perpetrators who rape young children.
The issue of religion surfaced recently in an interview with Jindal after some church officials urged several other Catholic governors to support abolition of the death penalty in their states.
Jindal said the Catholic Church deems the death penalty to be permissible.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops disagrees with Jindal. But Pope Benedict may be in his corner.
"The catechism opposes the death penalty. The catechism is pretty clear," said Kathy Saile, director of domestic social development for the Washington, D.C.,-based bishops conference, referring to the handbook of Catholic principles.
The conference's fact sheet titled "What Every Catholic Should Know About the Death Penalty" states that Catholics should comfort victims' families while acknowledging "the God-given dignity of every human life, even those who do great harm."
15 states prohibit the death penalty.
Saile concedes that the conference has not taken a position on whether Catholic politicians such as Jindal should be denied Communion for supporting capital punishment.
Some Catholic politicians who call themselves abortion-rights advocates have faced that.
Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Catholic, declined to discuss whether she wrestled with the issue of possibly having to sign a death warrant. No one was executed while she was governor.
Pope Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was on record as opposing capital punishment.
In 1999, Pope John Paul II made an appeal "for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary." A year earlier, the pope urged then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush to grant clemency to Karla Faye Tucker, an alleged pickaxe murderer who found religion behind bars. Bush refused the request.
Shortly before becoming Pope Benedict, Cardinal Ratzinger weighed in on one of the most important issues to a Catholic: the receiving of Holy Communion.
Communion can be denied to those considered unworthy.
Ratzinger concluded in a letter that capital punishment and warfare do not carry the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia and that there may be "a legitimate diversity of opinion among Catholics" on the death penalty and war but not on the latter 2 issues.
Saile said she is not aware of the former cardinal speaking about the death penalty since becoming pope.
Across the United States, at least 13 governors are Catholic. Only one of those governors, New Mexico's Bill Richardson, is in a state that does not permit executions.
Colorado's Bill Vitter, a practicing Catholic, said before becoming governor that he would not impose his personal beliefs on public policy.
"No doubt, there will be times when my decisions on some issues may be at odds with the orthodoxy of the Catholic Church," he said in an interview.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said Pope John Paul II forced Catholic officials in the U.S. to take a stance on capital punishment.
There was a time when being a Catholic governor would not raise any questions on the death penalty, Dieter said in an interview. "Today, that is no longer true."
However, Dieter said, church officials, including the current pope, do not seem to be giving the death penalty the same focus it had 10 years ago.
"I believe the opposition is still there, but it is not as pronounced or public as it was," Dieter said. "This probably eases the pressure on Catholic officials who represent a broad diversity of constituents on this issue."
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops keeps a tally of the number of Catholics in each state. Among the top 5 states with the largest percentage of Catholics, only Connecticut allows executions. New Jersey, where 41 % are Catholic, repealed the death penalty 2 years ago. Connecticut has executed 1 person since 1976.
"For the longest time, we were a state that only had the death penalty in name," said Ben Jones, executive director of Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty.
That changed, Jones said, after Michael Ross admitted raping and killing 8 women. Ross refused to fight his execution, and Connecticut put him to death in 2005.
His death marked the 1st execution in New England in 45 years.
As Ross' execution approached, Catholic church leaders in Connecticut spoke out against the death penalty. They directed an anti-death penalty stance to be explained to parishioners at Mass.
Connecticut Bishop William Lori told National Catholic Reporter in 2005 that the death penalty "offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life."
Earlier this year, Catholic officials urged Richardson to support legislation repealing the death penalty in New Mexico and hailed him when he signed the bill into law on March 18.
News reports claimed that talks with Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan helped sway Richardson, who previously was opposed to abolishing the death penalty.
However, Richardson made clear last week that it was the possibility of executing an innocent person that weighed heaviest on his conscience.
"In a society which values individual life and liberty above all else, where justice and not vengeance is the singular guiding principle of our system of criminal law, the potential for wrongful conviction and, God forbid, execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings," he said.
Source: The Advocate, March 30, 2009
