My Dear Friends,
As Catholics, we oppose the death penalty.
On this Respect Life Sunday, the fact that I had to write that concise first sentence to remind us of what the Catholic Church teaches speaks volumes as to how many of our faithful support and promote capital punishment. It saddens me as a pastor of souls that so many of my parishioners who defend the gift of life in the womb, and rightfully so, are quick to dismiss convicted felons who are on death row. Yes, their crimes are deplorable. Their victims and their families demand and deserve justice. Taking the life and the possibility of redemption for death row inmates is not the answer.
The reason I bring this issue up is that in the wake of the defeat of Amendment 4 last year, Florida stood up for life by defeating a measure that has saved the lives of so many unborn children. Yet, since that triumph of life, Florida has sadly executed more people than any other state in the union. This past Tuesday, our state conducted its 13th execution, and the 14th and 15th executions have already been scheduled for later this month.
If you go to the website of the Florida bishops, you will see letter after letter of our shepherds imploring the governor for mercy to commute inmates’ death sentences to life sentences without parole: “The Catholic Church teaches that all human life, given by God, is sacred. The death penalty attacks the inviolability of the human person. Life-long incarceration without the possibility of parole is a severe yet more humane punishment that ensures societal safety, allows the guilty the possibility of redemption, and offers finality to court processes. Given our modern penal system, executions are unnecessary.” (Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops 9/23/25).
We forget that even hardened criminals are human beings who were also created in the image and likeness of God who, while deserving of incarceration for their crimes, deserve the opportunity to amend for their sins and discover the liberating power of the mercy of Jesus Christ.
In 2018, Pope Francis rightly amended the Catechism of the Catholic Church to reflect how our society does not need the death penalty to uphold justice: “Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good. Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption. Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.” (CCC 2267)
We do such a beautiful job as a parish defending the unborn and accompanying single mothers through our Respect Life baby shower drives. We need to direct that same energy to write to our legislators and governor to abolish the death penalty in our state in the same way that we want to abolish abortion. Both are crimes against human life. While we pray for the victims of the inmates on death row, we pray that these men and women’s lives be spared so they can discover the mercy of Christ. If we truly believe that life should be protected from conception to natural death, then I invite you during this Respect Life Month to look into your heart and examine how you truly feel about your stance on the death penalty. Sadly, our political affiliations of late have replaced our Catholic values and dare I say, have become more our “religion” that allows us to celebrate the death of inmates, the incarceration of immigrants, and the silencing of voices that disagree with us. We must remember before all else that we are all children of the same loving God, even those individuals who commit the most heinous crimes and now wait on death row for another man to carry out an act that is only reserved to the Almighty.
God bless you all,
