DUBLIN, Ireland, MAY 28, 2001 (Zenit.org).- A group set up by the Irish Bishops´ Conference says it is «morally incumbent on Irish Catholics» to vote for the removal of death-penalty references from the Constitution, in a referendum June 7, the Irish Times reported.
«To retain even the possibility of reintroducing execution as a punishment in the ordinary criminal justice system appears increasingly at odds with the Church´s overall witness to the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death,» said a statement from the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace.
Traditional Catholic teaching had justified capital punishment by reference to society´s right to self-defense in the interests of the common good. But, the statement said, «today the common good can be protected without using the death penalty.»
