The overall change in attitude toward capital punishment also reflects a shift that has occurred in recent years among Catholics, McNeirney said Dec. 21. In 2005, a poll conducted by Zogby International for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops found Catholics almost equally divided on the issue, with 48 percent favoring it and 47 percent opposing it. The shift was a marked difference from 1994, when about 80 percent of Americans supported the death penalty, with Catholics favoring it by about the same margin.
McNeirney attributes the change in part to Pope John Paul II's clear message against the death penalty during his 1999 visit to St. Louis when he described capital punishment as "both cruel and unnecessary" and noted that "modern society has the means of protecting itself without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform."
McNeirney also noted that the anti-death penalty stance has recently gained new support from pro-life groups that had previously focused primarily on anti-abortion measures and from politicians on both ends of the political spectrum.
I hope that we can put an end to the death penalty, (the death of capital punishment, ha!) and lay to rest the idea that pro-lifers are all out to hang every petty thief. There are a number of anti-abortion people who favour the death penalty, but by no means all. There is a large body of anti-death penalty proponents in pro-life groups.
source
