Jurors unanimously agreed to sentence Dylann Roof to death for killing nine black churchgoers.
In closing statements before the deliberation, the unrepentant 22-year-old told jurors: "I still feel like I had to do it," the Associated Press reported.
Bishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston, South Carolina, said in a statement that the Catholic Church opposes capital punishment and reminded people that all life is sacred.
"We are all sinners, but through the Father's loving mercy and Jesus's redeeming sacrifice upon the Cross, we have been offered the gift of eternal life. The Catholic opposition to the death penalty, therefore, is rooted in God's mercy. The Church believes the right to life is paramount to every other right as it affords the opportunity for conversion, even of the hardened sinner," Bishop Guglielmone said.
