Tennessee Catholic bishops call for end to death penalty after botched execution

Tennessee’s Catholic bishops called for an end to the death penalty following the botched execution of Christa Pike last week.

“The Tennessee Catholic Conference calls on the State of Tennessee to choose a different path in responding to the most heinous crimes: replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,” said an October 2 statement from the Tennessee Catholic Conference.

The Tennessee Catholic Conference is the public policy arm of the state’s three Catholic dioceses.