United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Statements

WASHINGTON — With more federal executions scheduled in December and January, two bishop chairmen call on the Administration to recall God’s mercy during Advent.

In advance of a new wave of federal executions in November 2020, two bishop chairmen issued a statement calling on the Trump administration to act as a witness to the dignity of all human life.

“We say to President Trump and Attorney General Barr: Enough. Stop these executions.”

"Primarily, this report is an accounting of the vibrancy and sacredness that constitutes Catholic faith and Native American cultures. The confluence of faith and culture is at the center of what it means to be both Native American and Catholic, and the emergence of these two currents, and how they merge into a single source of spirituality and evangelization, is at the center of this report. Ministry to Catholic Native Americans, therefore, can be understood as two rivers that merge to make one.

WASHINGTON —Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued the following statement in light of additional federal executions this week and new executions set in September.

WASHINGTON – Following the U.S. Attorney General’s decision to set new federal execution dates for four federal death row inmates beginning July 13, 2020, and the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States declining to hear their appeal, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, called on the Administration to reverse course on presiding over federal executions for the first time in 17 years.

On October 10th, 2019 — the 17th annual World Day Against the Death Penalty — a panel of bishops gathered for a roundtable discussion about the death penalty in the United States.

Bishop Frank J. Dewane, Bishop of the Diocese of Venice and Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development issued a statement following the July 25th announcement from the Department of Justice on its decision to resume federal executions. 

Following the publication of the revised section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the death penalty, Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, Chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, welcomed the change and echoed the call to end the death penalty in the United States.

"There is no doubt that the Catholic Church stands out for its commitment to the right to life from conception until natural death. This ethic has profound consequences not only for abortion, but for many other areas of life, including the death penalty, the application of scientific research to human subjects, the right to adequate health care, and the role of the state in promoting the common good. Our civil society will be all the poorer if Senators, as a matter of practice, reject well-qualified judicial nominees whose consciences have been formed in this ethic."