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An execution chamber. Image courtesy of the California Department of Corrections via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)
7:00 p.m., August 24, 2022, Denver Newsroom (CNA).
The Archbishop of Oklahoma City urged the state not to use the capital sentence soon after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt on Wednesday rejected mercy to death row convict James Coddington.
“Regardless of the severity of the crime committed, we retain the dignity that God has given us. James Coddington’s mercy request was rejected by Governor Stitt, which disappointed Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, who wrote on August 24.
Without using violent methods that conflict with the pro-life ideals of our state and simply serve to feed the cycle of violence, there are alternative ways to apply equitable punishment for offenses, he added.
For the death penalty to be abolished and “that our leaders may have the insight and compassion to see the humanity in every individual, regardless of their condition in life,” he advised prayer.
“Pray that God would console and provide peace to the families of the violent crime victims. Pray for the welfare of the condemned person’s soul and the those engaged in his execution.
The Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester will be the site of a prayer vigil organized by the Diocese of Tulsa.
On August 25, Coddington will be put to death. He was found guilty of murdering Albert Hale in 1997 in 2003. When his colleague Hale refused to give him money for drugs, he beat him with a hammer.
Coddington’s sentence was changed to life in prison without the possibility of release earlier this month after the state’s parole board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for him.
Although the personnel at the prison has seen him to be a model prisoner, his lawyers have produced proof that he was mistreated as a youngster.
In November, Julius Jones, a second death row convict, received pardon from Stitt.
Although the Church holds that the death penalty is not inherently wrong, Pope Francis and his immediate predecessors have both spoken out against the use in the West.
In regards to capital punishment, the Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that civil authorities “punish the wicked and protect the innocent” via their “legal and rational exercise.”
According to St. John Paul II, “the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the instance of someone who has done immense evil.” He urged Christians to be “unconditionally pro-life.” Additionally, he expressed his wish for an agreement to abolish the death sentence, which he described as “cruel and useless.”
Furthermore, Benedict XVI urged global leaders to “make every effort to abolish the death penalty” and informed Catholics that doing so was crucial to “conforming criminal legislation both to the human dignity of inmates and the efficient preservation of public order.”
A revised version of the section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that addresses the death penalty was published in August 2018 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The new paragraph quotes Pope Francis as saying that “the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” and she works with determination for its abolition throughout the world,” in reference to a speech he gave on October 11, 2017.
According to the paragraph, reasons for modifying the curriculum include the increased efficacy of detention systems, a greater appreciation for a person’s inalienable dignity, and the prospect of conversion.
This alteration, in the opinion of Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P., a moral theologian at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., “further absolutizes the pastoral conclusion expressed by John Paul II,” CNA reported at the time.
Nothing in the revised language of paragraph 2267 implies that the death penalty is inherently wrong. In fact, nothing could imply such since it would go against the unwavering teaching of the Church, said Fr. Petri.