In early 2017, the Bishops of Virginia co-wrote a statement which was distribute state-wide. In the statement, the Bishops express a restatement of their position on the death penalty in Virginia. This statement was made in the midst of multiple scheduled executions. The statement reads as follows:
"Our Creator -- who made us out of love for love -- has dominion over all life. As children of this loving, merciful God we are led to a profound respect for every human life, from its very beginning until its natural end. Knowing that the state can protect itself in ways other than through the death penalty, we have repeatedly asked that the practice be abandoned. Our broken world cries out for justice, not the additional violence or vengeance the death penalty will exact.
We again express profound sorrow and offer our continued prayers for all victims of violence, whose lives have been brutally cut short, and their loved ones, whose grief continues. We pray for a change of heart and a spirt of remorse and conversion on the part of the perpetrators of this violence and ask God to give all of us the grace to work for peace and respect for all life in our communities and our Commonwealth."
