Federal Executions Pit The Trump Administration Against The Catholic Church
Opposition to the death penalty is "a teaching that deserves our respect," says Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley. "I don't think it can be simply disregarded."
For the ninth time in six months, the Trump administration is preparing to put a federal prisoner to death.
Brandon Bernard, 40, is due to be executed Thursday evening at the U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute in Indiana, as punishment for the murder of a young couple in Texas in 1999. The Justice Department plans another federal execution later this month, with three more scheduled in January.
In a statement on the resumption of federal executions after a 17-year hiatus, Attorney General William Barr said the death penalties were justified because the people sentenced to die had been convicted of "horrific crimes."
The spate of federal executions has put the Trump administration in sharp conflict with the Catholic.
