Sir, - Following Pope John Paul's visit to America recently and his call for the abolition of the death penalty, it was good to see that one prisoner on death row escaped execution. Despite the call from the American Bar Association in February, 1997 for a moratorium on executions because "the administration of the death penalty, far from being fair and consistent, is instead a haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency", the number of executions is increasing dramatically and new offences are now qualifying for the death penalty.
As an editorial in the Times of London (December 26th last) reported, "the Pope used his Christmas message to confirm his own continued intellectual and spiritual vitality and to make one of his clearest and most high-profile calls for the swift abolition of the death penalty throughout the planet. It is a cause that is particularly associated with this Pope." Indeed, this Pope is certainly consistent in promoting the "culture of life".
For evil to triumph it only requires people to remain silent in the face of gross injustice. Are we too not compromised in the use of this barbaric practice if we remain silent? - Yours, etc., Mary Stewart,
Ardeskin, Donegal Town.