Bishops on a mission

last updated 8 January 2015

Washington, D.C.

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops this week launched a campaign to abolish the death penalty. Catholic doctrine has long viewed capital punishment as immoral under almost all circumstances, but church leaders said they would now vigorously lobby state and federal lawmakers to end the practice. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., said the public was more open to anti-death-penalty arguments, thanks to a growing number of exonerations of death-row prisoners, fueled by DNA evidence. “I think this is a moment, a very special moment, where we can talk about this and people are ready to listen,” McCarrick said.