Irish Catholics Urged to Vote Against Death Penalty

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."