US Bishops' Official: Torture an Intrinsic Evil, Can Never Be Justified

Bishop Oscar Cantú, chair of the US bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, joined with other religious leaders in condemning the torture program carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency.

He said: “The Catholic Church firmly believes that torture is an ‘intrinsic evil’ that cannot be justified under any circumstance. The acts of torture described in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report violated the God-given human dignity inherent in all people and were unequivocally wrong. Congress and the President should act to strengthen the legal prohibitions against torture and to ensure that this never happens again.”

The statement from Bishop Cantú of Los Cruces, New Mexico, was released in conjuction with statements from other leaders by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

The Senate released a report Tuesday deatailing the interrogation techniques and torture used by the CIA in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.