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Holy See: ‘Death penalty the most shocking thing in the world'

A US citizen opposes the resumption of federal executions ANSAOn 10 October we mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty. The Holy See’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva reaffirms the Church’s commitment to upholding its deep belief that life is sacred and that the death penalty represents a failure for states and for humanity.

By Vatican News staff writer

We mark the 18th World Day Against the Death Penalty in the wake of Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli tutti.

Pope Francis had already ordered a change in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 when he termed the death penalty “inadmissible.” In a section of the just released encyclical dedicated to the death penalty, the Pope goes further, calling on Catholics to work for its abolition.

We asked Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to United Nations Office and Specialized Agencies in Geneva, for his reaction to the seven paragraphs in the encyclical in which the Pope states the Church’s unequivocal opposition to capital punishment in all instances. 
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