Chicago cardinal terms death penalty 'immoral'

At a March 10 conference hosted by the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, characterized capital punishment as "immoral."

"I have to say," he told an audience of more than 400 at Chicago's St. Josaphat Church, "that the church acknowledges that state authorities have the right - at least in the abstract, sometimes, in fact, the obligation - to protect society from violence and predators, even by the use, if necessary, of capital punishment. Nevertheless, if the teaching of the church has shifted, it is because its use seems now unnecessary, and thus immoral."

The conference also featured talks by Illinois Governor George Ryan, "Dead Man Walking" author Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.).