Holy See diplomat renews call for end to capital punishment

March 06, 2015

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s leading diplomat at UN offices in Geneva, called for the international abolition of the death penalty during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.

“Respect for the dignity of every human person and the common good are the two pillars on which the position of the Holy See has developed,” the prelate said on March 4. “These principles converge with a similar development in international human rights law and jurisprudence.”

“Moreover, we should take into account that no clear positive effect of deterrence results from the application of the death penalty and that the irreversibility of this punishment does not allow for eventual corrections in the case of wrongful convictions,” he added.

 

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Further information:

• Holy See to UN: Countries should strive to end the death penalty (Vatican Radio)