Death Penalty

Vatican Media presents another in its series of stories recounted by Dale Recinella, a former Wall Street finance lawyer who today, along with his wife Susan, assists prisoners on death row in Florida.

The story of a Catholic couple in Pakistan falsely accused of blasphemy, jailed, and finally released in 2021 by the Lahore High Court. Shagufta Emmanuel shares her experience with the Pontifical Foundation "Aid to the Church in Need" expressing gratitude for the support she and her family have received and for their faith in God whom, she says, has always sustained them.

Soon after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution for death row inmate Melissa Lucio on April 25, the bishops of Texas both commended her religious conversion, and lamented a flawed justice system that resulted in a “dubious” conviction.

South Carolina's Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay blocking the state from executing death-row inmate Richard Moore by firing squad.

Bishops in the US State of Texas have appealed for mercy to be offered to a mother of 14 and grandmother sentenced to die on April 27, following what has been called a flawed process and conviction.