Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said that “we need serious improvements throughout the entire justice and prison system that protect society while providing honest rehabilitation and the potential for redemption, even for those who will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. A very clear and basic step forward is to abolish the death penalty in every state and every nation.”

In calling for the universal abolition of the death penalty, Archbishop Coakley echoed the Pope’s September prayer intention.