Card. Martino backs meeting on abolition of death penalty

(September 29, 2008) A leading Vatican official has given his support to an important meeting in Rome on the abolition of death penalty saying capital punishment is not only opposed to the great Christian values that underlie the universal rights of man but also proves its total inefficacy. Cardinal Renato Martino, the president of the Vatican's Pontifical Counicl for Justice and Peace sent a message to the 3rd International Convention of Ministers of Justice held in Rome on Monday on the theme, “From Moratorium To The Abolition Of Capital Punishment.” The September 29^th meeting was sponsored by the Sant’Egidio Community a Rome-based Catholic lay organization. “The voice of the Church has always been and always will be on the side of life,” Cardinal Martino wrote, adding, “Human life, even of those who deliberately kill, must always be defended.” One can not deprive any person of the opportunity to repent, he added. Pope Benedict in his address to the diplomatic corps last January, welcomed the United Nations resolution in favour of the moratorium on executions, and hoped that the initiative would “stimulate political debate on the nature sacredness of human life." Cardinal Martino said the Rome meeting on the abolition of death penalty was a step in this direction. The prelate particularly commended Sant’Egidio Community that has been striving for the defence of life from conception to natural death for 40 years in many ways.