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NEW YORK – Catholic leaders are cheering Colorado\u2019s abolition of the death penalty – a move they say is fueled by new momentum following the revision to the Catholic Catechism to officially ban the practice and one that signals a westward expansion in the U.S. of the death penalty\u2019s<\/span> Governor Jared Polis signed the bill into law on Monday, March 23, while also commuting the sentences of three death row inmates, as the state<\/span> \u201cBy outlawing the death penalty, Colorado has taken a critical step toward respecting the dignity of human life,\u201d said Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCatholic Mobilizing Network believes that no matter the harm one has caused or suffered, each person ought to be treated with dignity and have the opportunity for redemption and healing,\u201d she continued. \u201cToday, Colorado makes that possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Sister Helen Prejean, a death penalty abolitionist who has worked with death row inmates for decades, praised the decision as triumph of collaboration between faith communities and other civil society groups.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAlleluia! I\u2019m celebrating the citizen activists of Colorado who, with stellar collaboration from the legal, law enforcement, education, and faith communities, steadily changed hearts and minds to arrive at this life-affirming day,\u201d she wrote on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nrepeal.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nnow becomes the 22nd in the country to repeal the practice.<\/span><\/p>\n