In a letter sent to the Governor of Missouri, the Holy See’s ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Pierre, requested that Johnson not be executed as a mark of the “sacredness of human life.” Johnson is 61 years old and is guilty of murder.
(Vatican News Network)Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Holy See’s ambassador to the United States, sent a letter to Missouri Governor Mike Parso, requesting that the execution of Johnson be stopped. The archbishop said in the letter that, in the name of Pope Francis, he sincerely called on the governor to “stop the plan to execute the death penalty against Mr. Johnson” and grant him appropriate relief. This request is not based on “the facts and circumstances of his crime”, nor is it based on the “intellectual suspicion” of Mr. Johnson, but a willingness to put “Mr. Johnson’s humanity and the sanctity of human life” at the center. The letter of the Holy See’s ambassador was published on Twitter by an American nun of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Prejon, who has been fighting against the death penalty in the United States for nearly 30 years.
Johnson will be executed by lethal drug injection in Bontel Prison on October 5. Johnson, 61, was sentenced to death because he killed three people during a robbery in a supermarket in 1994. His lawyer asked not to execute the death sentence because he has intellectual disability. On the contrary, the Missouri Supreme Court decided last month that Johnson has no such obstacles.
The ambassador of the Holy See, Archbishop Pierre, emphasized in a letter to the governor of Missouri that humanity should not be “forgotten”. He quoted Pope Francis’ encyclical “Brothers” as saying, “Don’t vent the desire for revenge against criminals’ atrocities, but eagerly heal the wounds of these sinners.” In addition, the ambassador of the archbishop mentioned that Missouri takes a brave stand in support of the dignity of life. He wrote at the end of the letter that in Johnson’s case, the decision to withdraw the execution of the death penalty would also be a “brave recognition of the inalienable dignity of man.”
If Jolson is executed on October 5, it will be the second execution in Missouri during the new crown epidemic. Most other states have suspended executions. In May of this year, Missouri was the first state in the United States to execute prisoners during the epidemic.
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