CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 13:44 pm
Tennessee’s Catholic bishops issued a plea for mercy, calling for an immediate halt to the death penalty and its eventual abolition as the state prepares to execute Harold Wayne Nichols on Dec. 1.
Tennessee’s three bishops, Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville, Bishop David P. Talley of Memphis, and Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville, as well as the Tennessee Catholic Conference issued a joint statement on Nov. 10 calling for an end to the death penalty in the state.
“The Catholic Church upholds the sacredness of every human life, even the life of one who is guilty of serious crimes,” the bishops wrote. “To take a life in punishment denies the image of God in which every person is made. The Gospel calls not for vengeance but for mercy.”
The bishops acknowledged that the Church has historically recognized the state’s right and duty to protect its citizens by sometimes employing the death penalty. However, the bishops wrote, “even in allowing for that possibility, Church teaching reflected the understanding that execution is permissible only when it is the sole practicable means to prevent further harm.”
“That understanding includes the recognition that even the most serious criminals retain an inherent dignity that must be respected, prompting the Church to limit the use of the death penalty as much as possible,” the statement says.
Nichols was convicted in 1990 of raping and murdering 21-year-old Karen Pulley, a student at Chattanooga State University, in 1988. During his trial, he expressed remorse and admitted to her rape and murder, and he said he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested, according to the Associated Press.
In the joint statement, the Tennessee bishops invoked Pope Leo XIV’s recent rebuke: “Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion’ but says ‘I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life.”
“The death penalty extinguishes the chance for repentance and redemption,” they continued. “It closes the door that mercy would open. True justice protects life, even as it punishes wrongdoing. A culture of life cannot coexist with the machinery of death.”
“We pray for Karen and her family and friends,” they wrote in the statement.
Tennessee has scheduled four more executions for 2026.
The statement comes amid growing scrutiny of Tennessee’s execution protocol. According to the AP, an independent review of Tennessee’s lethal injection process found that improper testing of the drugs led to prolonged suffering during executions.
“To oppose the death penalty is to affirm hope — that no one, even a person who has committed a grave crime, is beyond the reach of grace,” the statement concluded. “God’s judgment, not our retribution, has the final word.”
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How about calling for an end to Catholic anti-Catholicism.
“To take a life in punishment denies the image of God in which every person is made. The Gospel calls not for vengeance but for mercy.”
If this statement is true, then the Church denied the image of God for over 1900 years.
In Pope John Paul II encyclical on life he said that the primary purpose of punishment is to reestablish right order – Retribution, not vengeance.
I find it embarrassing that our bishops, who have all had years of theology and philosophy, as well as most have graduate degrees, that all they can do is make these statements. They would be more accurate if they just said that “I am opposed to the death penalty because I just don’t like it.”
“However, the bishops wrote, “even in allowing for that possibility, Church teaching reflected the understanding that execution is permissible only when it is the sole practicable means to prevent further harm.”
Not so. The Church approved capital punishment for over 1900 years because it saw it as the appropriate punishment for certain crimes, not because of lack of prison space.
“In the joint statement, the Tennessee bishops invoked Pope Leo XIV’s recent rebuke: “Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion’ but says ‘I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life.”
An extremely unfortunate statement by Pope Leo, and unfortunate that the Tennessee bishops should repeat it. Abortion is intrinsically immoral, the death penalty is a matter of prudential judgement ( or else the Church was not really pro-life for over 1900 years).
“The death penalty extinguishes the chance for repentance and redemption,” they continued.
Really? The man has been in prison for over 30 years. I would think that is an adequate amount of time for repentance.
“The death penalty extinguishes the chance for repentance and redemption,”
Whether they are committed or not to this course of action, minimal spiritual wisdom would recognize God’s role in reform, including how a shortened life span might receive graces to concentrate the mind and soul to take transgressions seriously instead of rationalized through time.
Well, as they say “You first. ”
🙂
It’s someone else’s life we’re talking about shortening for their spiritual benefit.
I personally would like to see more energy spent on ending early releases from prison and making life sentences actually for life.
Too many dangerous offenders are turned loose on society because of prison overcrowding or clueless parole boards.
I worked in the fiscal end of a state correction environment for a couple of years. There’s something truly jarring about slowly driving your car to the entrance, knowing there was a 30.06 pointed at your left temple with the barrel only to be directed away when you the guard signaled that you had valid credentials.
I would never want to go back to it, but I’m glad I did my time. It knocked the scales of my eyes about the depths to which humanity can sink. I have enormous respect for the
I find arguments against a total prohibition on the death penalty unconvincing. While penal institutions are now designed with Benthamite panopticon designs and “breakwaters” designed to prevent altercations becoming complete facility-wide chaos- and there are fewer escapes, it is still a glimpse of hell and there are predatory sociopaths who remain inordinate risks to both other inmates and staff.
Geez.
Errata I have enormous respect for the corrections staff that are in great personal peril and do a thankless, but absolutely essential job. You have no idea what they endure until you’ve been on the other side of the concertina wire.
The gospel does not teach mercy at the expense of justice. That is a false dichotomy. Jesus warned about the coming judgment repeatedly. It was a central tenet of His teaching. We had best heed the counsel and repent. Mercy will not be available indefinitely.
Luke 23-39 Now one of those robbers who were hanged was abusing him, saying, “If thou art the Christ, save thyself and us!” 40. But the other in answer rebuked him and said, “Dost not even thou fear God, seeing that thou art under the same sentence? 41. And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what our deeds deserved; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42. And he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” 43. And Jesus said to him, “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
Source: The “New Catholic Edition” of the Holy Bible 1964
Yes. St Dimas was the first of many saints and popes, including doctors of the Church, to uphold the death penalty. Of course, Our Lord and Savior, did not rebuke him either. Capital puinishment is not immoral.
How about a call to end homosexuality in the priesthood and church hierarchy?