The lead Bishop for international affairs has called on Catholics to urgently contact their MPs about the rapidly increasing number of executions taking place around the world.
New figures published on Tuesday, 5 April, show that there were 1,634 recorded executions in 2015 and estimates suggest that thousands more took place in secret. This is more than a 50% increase on the number of executions in 2014. However despite this shocking trend the UK government has scrapped its internationally-renowned strategy to promote global abolition of the death penalty.
Highlighting the need for a strong response from the Catholic community Bishop Declan Lang said:
“Throughout this Year of Mercy Pope Francis has repeatedly called for the death penalty to be consigned to history. Yet as these harrowing statistics show thousands of men, women, and children across the world continue to be executed or sentenced to death.
Ending this violation of human rights is the responsibility of us all. It is troubling that while the number of executions has risen so sharply, our government appears to have downgraded its work towards global abolition.
I would strongly encourage Catholics across England and Wales to contact their MPs to help ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to end the death penalty everywhere and forever.”
You can contact your MP via: cbcew.org.uk/deathpenalty
