An appeal to the Texan authorities to "spare the life or at least postpone the execution, with a view to a review of the trial", was made this morning by card. Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Papal Council for Justice and Peace, for Joseph Lave, 42, locked up in the death row in Texas for 13 years. The cardinal who spoke at the XII International Congress of the International Commission for the Catholic Pastoral in the Prisons (Iccppc) which is in progress in Rome (until September 12th) about "Discover in every convict the face of Christ" stated once again "that death penalty is inhuman and useless, and he said it impoverishes that society which legitimates and practices it and leaves no possibility for convicts to rehabilitate themselves". Card. Martino explains the Papal Council for Justice and Peace has endorsed the initiative promoted for Joseph Lave by Comunità di Sant’Egidio, which "for months has been campaigning for the human case of the convict".
