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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“The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience,” a $5 million, 10,000-square-foot museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California opened to visitors on Nov. 19, 2025. / Credit: Everett Johnson, Diocese of Orange
Los Angeles, California, Nov 19, 2025 / 16:53 pm (CNA).
“The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience,” a $5 million, 10,000-square-foot museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California, opened to visitors Wednesday.
The museum is presented by Papaian Studios in partnership with the Diocese of Orange and Othonia Inc., an international team of specialists dedicated to exploring and sharing the mystery of the Shroud of Turin.
The 90-minute experience introduces visitors to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, with a special focus on the Shroud of Turin, which many believe to be the burial cloth of Christ.
The 90-minute experience at the new Shroud of Turin museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in California introduces visitors to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, with a special focus on the Shroud of Turin, which many believe to be the burial cloth of Christ. Credit: Diocese of Orange
Inspired by the advanced technology incorporated in “Van Gogh Exhibition: The Immersive Experience” and the “Immersive King Tut,” the museum features 360-degree projection-room theaters as well as shroud replicas, interactive kiosks, a life-sized corpus, and a variety of artwork.
Jason Pearson of FiveHive Studios, which offers AI special effects and animation services, is a Catholic convert who worked with Othonia, a team of shroud specialists, to design the museum. Among his movie credits is Mel Gibson’s 2004 “The Passion of the Christ.” He has long had an interest in the shroud and has been a volunteer guide at the Shroud Center of Southern California located at the Santiago Retreat Center, also in the Diocese of Orange.
“Using technology on display like that of the Van Gogh or King Tut exhibits, we’re doing things that have never been done before,” Pearson told CNA.“Whether it be Jesus walking on water or through the streets of Jerusalem, or in the tomb at the moment of the Resurrection, we make use of sound and projections so that the visitor feels like he’s going back into a time machine and experiencing these things himself.”
“The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience” located at the Christ Cathedral campus in the Diocese of Orange, California, opened to visitors on Nov. 19, 2025. Credit: Everett Johnson, Diocese of Orange
The museum is designed for everyone, Pearson continued, even those who have no religious background at all.
Located on the second floor of the campus’ Richard H. Pickup Cultural Center, the museum has three theater rooms. Using surround sound and images, including on the floor, the first room introduces the visitor to the person of Jesus Christ through presentation of 12 stories from his life, but each one is selected to show Christ’s connection to the supernatural (e.g. the Transfiguration). The next introduces the visitor to the shroud itself, including proof of its authenticity and what it tells us about the sufferings of Christ. The third is devoted to the Resurrection leading the viewer to ponder a pointed question: Who do you believe the man on the shroud is?
The third theater exits into the museum area, which includes displays of reproductions of items that were part of the passion of Christ, including a flagellum (whip), the crown of thorns and nails, as well as a reproduction of what the tomb of Christ might have looked like.
The new Shroud of Turin museum uses AI and 360-degree tech to explore Christ’s life and resurrection. Credit: Everett Johnson, Diocese of Orange
Other exhibits include an AI presentation of Secondo Pia (1855–1941) who, while photographing the shroud in 1898, discovered that its negative image offered a clearer image of the man on the shroud with a detail in his face that could not been seen by the naked eye. Another traces the history of the iconography of Christ, demonstrating how accurate, when comparing it to the shroud image, many of the icons were. And, one compares the Sudarium of Oviedo, or the facial cloth that covered Christ’s face after his death, to the image on the shroud.
Pearson hopes that the museum will be a prototype for additional shroud museums in different regions of the country. Inquiries have been made about establishing shroud museums from places as far away as Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
One portion of the museum is dedicated to the science of the shroud, and two kiosks allow visitors to ask questions of a digital Father Robert Spitzer, who has extensively researched the shroud over the past 20 years. Credit: Everett Johnson, Diocese of Orange
One portion of the museum is dedicated to the science of the shroud, and two kiosks allow visitors to ask questions of a digital Father Robert Spitzer, who has extensively researched the shroud over the past 20 years. Spitzer, who has an office at Christ Cathedral, noted that he was pleased with the museum’s opening. “It gets the pedagogy right, it’s biblically accurate, and they tell me the visual imagery is amazing.” (Spitzer has gone blind in recent years.)
He continued: “And while we welcome anyone, we especially hope many young people will come to learn about the shroud and lead many to come to know more deeply the person of Jesus Christ.”
Nora Creech is on the leadership team of Othonia and helped develop content for the museum. “We want people to come with an open mind, explore, and ask questions. We want them to ask, ‘Who is the man of the shroud?’” she said.
One special target group of the museum, Creech said, is younger people, “many of whom have not been brought up with knowledge of who Jesus is. That is why we seek first to introduce people to Jesus so that they will become interested in his burial shroud.”
Pearson agreed and related the story of two young women who visited the Shroud Center and began weeping, asking: “Why hasn’t anyone told us about him?”
But while the shroud is important in showing us what Jesus suffered, Creech continued, we also need the Church and the Scriptures “to learn why he suffered.”
Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer blesses the new Shroud of Turin museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California, opened to visitors Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. Credit: Kaylee Toole, Diocese of Orange
Orange Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer, who played a key role in bringing the museum to Christ Cathedral, noted that his favorite feature was the reproduction of the crown of thorns, which, contrary to most artistic renditions, was actually shaped like a helmet or cap. He continued: “I’ve been impressed with the entire exhibition. It is very engaging, and I believe it will be an important tool in helping visitors come to know Christ better.”
Also among those excited to see the opening of the museum was Gus Accetta, a physician who has devoted much of his free time to studying the shroud. In 1996, he founded the Shroud Center in Huntington Beach, since relocated to the Santiago Retreat Center and welcoming 25,000 visitors annually.
“It’s a wonderful exhibit,” he said. It not only looks at the shroud but the whole life of Christ, of which the shroud is just a part.”
A crown of thorns from the “Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience,” a $5 million, 10,000-square-foot museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California. The museum opened to visitors on Nov. 19, 2025. Credit: Diocese of Orange
The Shroud of Turin experience will be on display at Christ Cathedral at least through 2030. The museum is located on Christ Cathedral campus, 12141 Lewis St., Garden Grove, California, a few miles away from Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center. For more information, visit the website www.theshroudexperience.com.
Pope Leo XIV waves as the popemobile passes by a crowd of American pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the pope’s general audience on June 18, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
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.
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.