Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 4, 2023 / 11:55 am (CNA).
The state of Florida executed a convicted murderer on Tuesday evening after pleas from Catholic bishops and other anti-death-penalty advocates fell on deaf ears.
Michael Zack III, 54, was executed by lethal injection at 6:14 p.m. on Oct. 3, the Florida Department of Corrections said in a news release. It is the state’s most recent execution since August, the fifth carried out by the state this year, and the 10th since 2018.
Zack had been convicted of two 1996 murders: He stabbed Ravonne Smith to death and later beat to death Laura Rosillo.
The execution was carried out despite repeated pleas from anti-death-penalty activists, including the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had urged Gov. Ron DeSantis to commute Zack’s sentence.
Zack’s “heinous and horrific crimes against these women have caused untold suffering to their families, friends, and communities,” the bishops wrote DeSantis in a letter in September.
Yet “in taking the life of Mr. Zack, the state will do nothing to restore the victims’ lives,” the bishops argued. “Rather, state-sanctioned killing will only further fuel the growing societal disrespect for the dignity of human life.”
“Intentionally ending Mr. Zack’s life is unnecessary,” they wrote further. “The alternative punishment of lifelong incarceration without parole is a severe and more humane penalty by which society can remain safe and victims’ families can be given closure.”
“In our modern penal system, no one should be executed,” they added.
The bishops said that as a child Zack had suffered “an extremely abusive home environment, undergoing severe physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his stepfather,” with such abuse likely contributing to his homicidal behavior later in life.
The bishops noted that several prayer vigils had been scheduled ahead of Zack’s execution.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (No. 2267).
The change reflects a development in Catholic doctrine in recent years. St. John Paul II, calling the death penalty “cruel and unnecessary,” encouraged Christians to be “unconditionally pro-life” and said that “the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.”
Following the execution, the group Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) released Zack’s final statement in which the convict said that following the 1996 murders he had “woken up every single day since then filled with remorse and a wish to make my time here on earth mean something more than the worst thing I ever did.”
“I make no excuses. I lay no blame,” Zack wrote. “But how I wish that I could have a second chance, to live out my days in prison and continue to do all I can to make a difference in this world.”
Zack concluded the message by addressing “Gov. DeSantis and the clemency board,” writing to them: “I love you. I forgive you. I pray for you.”
In their statement after his death, FADP said Zack and his sisters endured “an unimaginable childhood of horrors” from his stepfather, including being “force-fed … alcohol and drugs” and being “kicked, beaten, and thrown against walls.”
“Michael’s life began with violence and now, at the hands of the state of Florida, has ended in violence,” the group wrote.
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In the Bible, the term “cut off” is used over 70 times by God, to mean put someone to, spiritually or physically, death. When Jesus uses the term “cut off” in Matthew 18, He means to put someone to spiritual death using Catholic Anathema, for the protection of the Body of His Church. Jesus explains that it is better for the Body of His Church to enter heaven missing some members/limbs of the Body of His Church, who were cast into hell by Catholic Anathema, than for evildoers to pull the whole Body of His Church into hell.
Leviticus 20:1
The LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites: Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall be put to death. Let his fellow citizens stone him. I myself will turn against such a man and cut him off from the body of his people;
Matthew 18:5
“Whoever welcomes one such child for my sake welcomes me. On the other hand, it would be better for anyone who leads astray one of these little ones who believes in me, to be drown by a millstone around his neck, in the depths of the sea. What terrible things will come on the world through scandal! It is inevitable that scandal should occur. Nonetheless, woe to that man through whom scandal comes! If your hand or foot is your undoing, cut it off and throw it from you! Better to enter life maimed or crippled than be thrown with two hands or feet into endless fire. If your eye is your downfall, gouge it out and cast it from you! Better to enter life with one eye than be thrown with both into fiery Gehenna.
ANATHEMA
the formula of anathema which ends with these words: Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive N– himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance and satisfy the Church; we deliver him to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of judgment.” Whereupon all the assistants respond: “Fiat, fiat, fiat.” The pontiff and the twelve priests then cast to the ground the lighted candles they have been carrying, and notice is sent in writing to the priests and neighboring bishops of the name of the one who has been excommunicated and the cause of his excommunication, in order that they may have no communication with him. Although he is delivered to Satan and his angels, he can still, and is even bound to repent. The Pontifical gives the form for absolving him and reconciling him with the Church. The promulgation of the anathema with such solemnity is well calculated to strike terror to the criminal and bring him to a state of repentance, especially if the Church adds to it the ceremony of the Maranatha…
…He who dares to despise our decision, let him be stricken with anathema maranatha, i.e. may he be damned at the coming of the Lord, may he have his place with Judas Iscariot, he and his companions.
Quoted from: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01455e.htm
So, we have to ask ourselves, are we confident that all our 2 billion Christians are safely going to go to heaven, without any chance of evildoers pulling the whole Body of the Church into hell, and thus we no longer need Catholic Anathema? Or is the Catholic Church teetering over the abyss of hell and we should be praying frantically for St. Michael the Archangel to come to earth and draw the Sword of Christ’s Mouth, Catholic Anathema, and “by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.”
Catholic Anathema is far deadlier, Spiritual death deadlier, than Capital Punishment. So we should focus on whether or not there is still a need for Catholic Anathema, then we can take a look at physical death from capital punishment.
Well done, sir, well done, as this is one of the topics no longer addressed in modern homilies as I have to think back to my childhood in the 50’s to the last time I can recollect this topic being mentioned. Even simple rebukes are out of style as considered too judgmental in the modern church. Even the less difficult passages alluding to God turning his face or withdrawing the Holy Spirit To your commentary, IMHO perhaps modern homilies should address the 7-Stages of Sin in concert with the 7-Gifts of the Holy Spirit as a baseline for the discussion of the Catholic Anathema.
I agree with the FL bishops but I wish prolife/anti death penalty folks would be a little bit louder supporting real, life time sentences without parole. Clueless parole boards routinely release hardened, criminal sociopaths to reoffend.
If we don’t want capital punishment then it’s on us to make sure a life sentence actually means a life sentence. And every violent offender serves their full sentence.