Church seeks end to death penalty

(by Justin Dickerson, Los Angeles Times, Posted on Tue, Mar. 22, 2005)

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says it will use educational programs and expanded political-advocacy efforts to try to stop capital punishment. ...

"We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing," said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, D.C. "We cannot defend life by taking life." ...

A survey of 1,785 Roman Catholic adults of all demographics shows a general trend away from support of the death penalty, pollster John Zogby said.

"In past surveys, Catholic support for the death penalty was as high as 68 percent," Zogby said. "In our November survey, we found that less than half of the Catholic adults in our poll now support the use of the death penalty."

The survey also found that the more often Catholics attend Mass, the less likely they are to support the death penalty, that Catholics 18 to 28 years old are less likely to support it and that a third of Catholics who supported the death penalty in the past now oppose it. The poll has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.