Catholics seeking to end US death penalty chart Jubilee course in God’s justice

By Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, Catholic Mobilizing Network*

We are fast approaching the finale of a year that Pope Francis has called each of us to make a symphony of prayer, in preparation for Jubilee 2025. In these days of Advent, we cannot ignore that our Jubilee preparations come amid so much uncertainty, brokenness and suffering in our world. And yet, it is now that we must make our final preparations before setting sail as pilgrims of hope.

These troubled times require that we assess the breadth and excavate the depth of hope in our hearts so that we can more readily share it.

After all, in his Bull of Indiction entitled “Hope Does Not Disappoint,” Pope Francis instructed us that “all the baptized, with their respective charisms and ministries, are co-responsible for ensuring that manifold signs of hope bear witness to God’s presence in the world.” He reminded us that our hope does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing or no one may ever separate us from God’s love.

In exploring the depth of our hope, we may find that polarization and fear have distracted our gaze and disoriented our compass away from the true north of Christian hope — a hope that is not half-hearted or superficial but a kind of anchored hope, “born of grace.”

Without being anchored in hope, I (and we) can allow cynicism or despair to seep in and eclipse our own agency to build up a culture of life and to serve the common good.

Yet, this upcoming Jubilee year calls forth something beyond ordinary from us.

Rest assured, pilgrims of hope will be known by how we readily share the grace-filled hope God has granted to us, especially in these challenging and uncertain times.

Pilgrims of Hope: Bearers of God’s merciful justice

In his Angelus address on December 8, the same day in which he called for prayer for the inmates on the U.S. death row—that their sentences may be commuted or changed—Pope Francis reflected on the “yes” that Mary, full of grace, gave to the Archangel Gabriel to permit the Incarnation of the Son of God.

He then suggested that we ask ourselves where we place our hopes. Do we place them in God’s infinite mercy? If indeed our hope is in His mercy, we must say “yes” to sharing our hope with those who the world has forgotten or views as hopeless.

Saying yes to sharing hope can take many forms, as we respond to the work of the Holy Spirit. One sure sign of our hope is to build up a culture of life. And so we look ahead and consider what concrete steps we might take to usher in the hope we seek.

Tools for our pilgrim journey: Building a culture of life

Like many ministries and faith-based organizations, Catholic Mobilizing Network is working to develop education, advocacy and prayer tools for the Jubilee journey in order to support the faithful in efforts to imagine and construct this culture of life, during this special year of grace and beyond.

Our January 16 webinar will kick off the Jubilee year offering practical resources to equip Catholics to introduce restorative practices into parishes and ministries. Along with the Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition (CPMC), CMN is developing resources for the special Jubilee of Prisoners in December 2025, in coordination with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). And our monthly First Friday Prayer Vigils, Lenten reflections and annual novena will include a special hope-filled Jubilee focus.

It is the experience of God’s grace-filled hope, infinite mercy and model of forgiveness that buoys our witness. Steadfast, faith-filled advocacy is also an act of profound hope in our world today.

Our first Jubilee advocacy action has already begun. We considered it a fitting measure to kick off the Jubilee Year by launching a petition urging President Joe Biden to commute all federal death sentences to terms of imprisonment and sparing the lives of the 40 men currently on federal death row. 

Such a courageous act would model the spirit of mercy and the kind of justice that upholds the dignity of life, no matter the harm one has caused or suffered. You can find out more here.

As Pope Francis encouraged us on Thursday in announcing his World Day of Peace message, may 2025 be a year in which peace flourishes.

He reminded us that true peace is granted by God to hearts disarmed; hearts that turn selfishness into readiness to reach out to others; hearts that see themselves as indebted to God and thus prepared to forgive the debts that oppress others; hearts that replace anxiety about the future with the hope that every individual can be a resource for the building of a better world.

* Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Catholic Mobilizing Network is a national organization that mobilizes Catholics and people of goodwill to end the death penalty, advance justice solutions in alignment with Catholic values and promote healing through restorative justice approaches and practices. For more information, visit catholicsmobilizing.org.