A WORLDWIDE movement of laypeople expressed full support to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ campaign against the Duterte administration’s plan to revive the death penalty in the Philippines.
In a letter, The Community of Sant’Eqidio or CSE said Christian teachings provide no support for capital punishment “in all forms.”
“We feel the importance to affirm the right to life of anybody, to profess and communicate a culture of mercy, as also recently
“Therefore, we stand at your side and would like to express to you our full availability to any form of support and cooperation you may indicate to us.”
The CSE says it is hoping that “the reasons of life will win over the unreasonable efforts to impose a law which is against the main principle of human life.”
The Rome-based lay Catholic group is well known and highly respected for its work with the poor and refugees, and has earned many awards and even a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The CBCP had earlier criticized the strident efforts in Congress to restore capital punishment.
The bishops say that the use of capital punishment is no different from the crime it punishes.
“When we condemn violence, we cannot ourselves be its perpetrators, and when we decry murder, we cannot ourselves participate in murder no matter that it may be accompanied by the trappings of judicial and legal process,¡± the CBCP said.
In a separate statement, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle warned that the restoration of the death penalty would legitimize violence as a solution to problems.
“There is a danger that the death penalty might legitimize the use of violence to deal with every wrongdoing,” Tagle said.
Former CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop emeritus Oscar Cruz criticized House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez for acting like “God” for threatening to remove from their posts those who oppose passing the death penalty bill.
“The boss of Congress is acting purely on political motives. What he is doing, it’s embarrassing, it’s hurtful,” Cruz said.