Following President Joe Biden’s announcement on Dec. 23, 2024 that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 prisoners on federal death row to life without parole, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory issued the following statement that morning:
“I applaud President Biden’s decision to commute these death sentences. It is one important step toward a greater respect for human life — even the lives of those who may have brought such suffering and pain to the lives of others. In imploring its abolition, Pope Francis, in line with the admonitions of his predecessors, has called the death penalty contrary to humanity’s social and ethical dignity, and unnecessary for the protection of society. The death penalty is but one more link in the awful loss of public respect for human life itself.” — Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop, The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
Related story:
Biden commutes most federal death-row sentences to life in prison
https://www.cathstan.org/us-world/biden-commutes-most-federal-death-row-sentences-to-life-in-prison
