Harm, Healing, and Human Dignity is a faith formation resource to help parishes, small groups, and individual believers reflect on the Catholic call to restorative justice.
Pope Francis has dedicated the month of September to praying for the global abolition of the death penalty. This toolkit offers ways to amplify this prayer and raise awareness about the death penalty in the U.S.
Pope Francis has dedicated the month of September to praying for the global abolition of the death penalty. Watch the Pope's Prayer Video, launching this month of prayer.
The modern death penalty system in the U.S. arose from our nation's ugly histories of slavery, lynching, and racial violence. To this day, capital punishment is unfairly applied based on race and remains the most punitive practice within a infamously racist criminal legal system.
This one-page handout gives an introductory overview of restorative justice and ways that practices can be applied in various settings.
Below is an excerpt from an address Pope Francis gave to the Delegation of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty on December 17, 2018.
Nuestra fe Católica y la pena de muerte.
The Catholic Church has long supported alternatives to the death penalty. Each of the last three popes spoke out publicly against capital punishment, acknowledging the ways it violates the inherent dignity of the human person.
On August 2, 2018, Pope Francis made a historic revision to the Catechism of the Catholic Church which declared the death penalty "inadmissible" in all cases.
In response to that call, people of faith are adding their names to the National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty, and working to build a culture of life.
