Vatican official commends decision sparing life of Pennsylvania inmate A March 27 federal appeals court decision that affirmed the overturning of a Philadelphia man's 1982 death sentence was termed a victory for human life by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The decision, by a panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, upheld the conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal for having killed a police officer in 1981, but it also upheld a lower court ruling vacating his death sentence. The state now can either commute Abu-Jamal's sentence to life or hold a new sentencing hearing that would impose a new death sentence or life in prison. "Justice is not accomplished by punishing with another crime," said Martino in an interview published on the front page of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, on March 28. "For this reason, every death sentence not carried out is a victory for man and for life." The basis of all human rights is the right to life, Martino said. "Therefore, even the criminal who committed a crime has the right to live" and to have the possibility to make amends for his crime and to be rehabilitated. The cardinal noted that Pope Benedict XVI has publicly expressed his opposition to the death penalty on several occasions. "The death penalty does not fit into the concept of justice," Martino said, "because the defense of life - which goes from conception to natural death - is preferred in every way by the Holy See." That is why the Vatican supports initiatives to abolish capital punishment," he added. The cardinal described the United Nations General Assembly's Dec. 18 approval of a resolution in favor of a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty (see below) as "an enormous step forward," be he noted that the resolution merely asked nations not to carry out executions. Additional efforts, he said, are needed "to completely liberate the world from this atrocious way of exercising justice." Commission formed to study Maryland's death penalty Maryland Catholic Conference executive director Richard J. Dowling has commended the Maryland legislature for voting to establish a commission to study the state's death penalty. The Maryland House of Delegates passed such a measure on March 21 by an 89-48 vote, and the Senate passed a similar bill a day later by 32-15. Topics to be addressed include the risk of executing innocent persons; alleged racial, economic and jurisdictional disparities in how the death penalty is administered; and a comparison of the costs of executions versus the cost of life imprisonment. The bills were backed by Democratic Gov. Martin J. O'Malley, an opponent of capital punishment. Efforts to enact a law that would have abolished the state's death penalty were blocked in the Senate for the second consecutive year. The new 19-member commission will be made up of people on both sides of the issue, and is expected to include representatives from the state's religious communities. Plans call for the group to issue a report on its findings and recommendations to the legislature by Dec. 15. "We're hopeful this commission will help remove the residual doubts about whether our justice system can be best served by repeal of the death penalty," Dowling told Catholic News Service. The commission is expected to hold regional hearings, and Dowling said he was "confident people and interests throughout the state will have their say." Vatican hails UN General Assembly's vote calling for death penalty moratorium Moments after the United Nations General Assembly's December 18 approval of a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty with a view toward abolishing executions worldwide, the vote was commended by the director of the Vatican Press Office. "It shows that despite persistence of violence in the world, an awareness of the value of life ... is growing in the human family," said Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., in comments on Vatican Radio. "This vote is interpreted as a sign of hope and a step forward on the road to peace." The vote in the 192-member world body was 104-54, with 29 abstentions. Among those voting no were the U.S., China, Iran and Syria. Coincidentally, the vote took place a day after the State of New Jersey became the first U.S. state to repeal its death penalty law since executions were reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 (see separate story below). The resolution is not legally binding, but carries moral weight and is seen as reflecting the majority view of world opinion. It calls upon countries that allow capital punishment to respect international standards that safeguard the rights of condemned inmates and to "establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty." It also calls upon nations that have abolished the practice not to reintroduce it. Two similar resolutions before the General Assembly - in 1994 and 1999 - failed to pass. Also haling the vote were Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN. For more details, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left and scroll to Items 1 and 2. NJ bishops commend lawmakers for passage of repeal bills The repeal of New Jersey?s death penalty law has been hailed by Most Rev. John M. Smith, the Catholic bishop of Trenton, the state?s capital city, who said lawmakers had shown ?a great deal of courage? in their willingness to take an unpopular position against capital punishment. A bill to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life in prison was signed by Gov. Jon Corzine (Dem.) on December 17, after passage by the Senate and by the General Assembly during the previous week. For more information, including the texts of statements by Bishop Smith and the other New Jersey bishops, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left and scroll down to Item No. 3. 47% of Catholics feel they would be barred from juries in capital cases, poll indicates In a nationwide public opinion poll of 1,000 U.S. adults, 47% of Catholic respondents said ?yes? when asked if they believed they would be disqualified from serving on a jury in a death penalty case because of their moral beliefs. The percentages were even higher for two other subgroups of the population who were asked the same question - women (48%) and African Americans (68%). ?This points to a problem of skewed juries that do not represent the country?s diversity,? said Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which commissioned the survey. "Jurors in capital cases," he explained, "must be interrogated about their positions on the death penalty. If they are opposed to it in all cases, they will not be permitted to serve. The resultant juries look different than society at large because they will have fewer minority members, fewer women, and none of those who represent one side on this divisive issue." For more information, visit the Death Penalty Information Center's website at www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.