“Taking the life of one who has taken another’s life is most assuredly just another link in the horror of violence of which there is far too much in our world,” Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington preached on Good Friday. “The pastors of the church are challenging us all to consider other means to protect society that do not include the destruction of another life.”

“We are not seeking the wholesale release of murderers and dangerous criminals back into society,” he continued. “We are not urging our nation to neglect its obligation to protect its citizens. We are not suggesting that dangerous people are not dangerous people. We are, however, beseeching Catholics everywhere to consider carefully the impact that capital punishment has on us as a society.”