HARTFORD, Conn. (CNS) – In what he called “a moment of sober reflection, not celebration,” Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed into law a bill outlawing the use of capital punishment in the state.
The law, which takes effect immediately, makes life imprisonment without the possibility of release the highest punishment possible in Connecticut.  The death penalty could be carried out, however, in the cases of 11 prisoners currently on death row in the state.
The Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, representing the state’s bishops, had backed the legislation, saying, “Repealing the death penalty is in agreement with the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church and is good public policy.”
Acknowledging that capital punishment is “a difficult issue for many Catholics,” especially when brutal crimes are committed, the conference said Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic bishops nevertheless “call us to be faithful toward our church’s teaching on respecting the sanctity of all human life.”