Leaders of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference (USCCB) lauded the Supreme Court ruling permitting death row inmate John Ramirez to receive spiritual assistance prior to his execution.
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chairman of the Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, and Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, issued a joint statement Thursday in favor of the 8-1 decision in favor of Ramirez.
The Court found for Ramirez in his challenge to the State of Texas, which had denied his request that his pastor pray over him and lay hands on him as he is executed.
“As fallen creatures, we are all in need of God’s grace and forgiveness,” the bishops declare in their statement. “For John Ramirez’s actions, the state sentenced him to death. He has asked the state to allow him what he sincerely believes he needs to prepare for the end of this life.”
“The Supreme Court has rightly ruled that the state did not meet the appropriately high bar the law sets to deny the condemned the accompaniment that their religion prescribes,” they assert.
“Permitting Mr. Ramirez’s pastor to provide the spiritual assistance that Mr. Ramirez has requested would not render his execution a just act,” they added.
Beyond the matter of the Supreme Court ruling, the bishops also reiterate recent Church teaching against the death penalty.
“The practice of state-sanctioned executions of human beings – the irrevocable termination of God’s gift of human life – is a grave violation of human dignity,” they declare. “An execution represents a judgment by fallible human beings that a person is beyond redemption – a judgment the Catholic Church rejects.”
“The state should act with justice and mercy by sparing Mr. Ramirez’s life,” they continue. “The Supreme Court has done the right thing in its ruling to honor Mr. Ramirez’s right to seek the mercy of God at the moment of his death.”