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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
________________Chile_______________
Death penalty abolished
Move draws papal praise
When he met on June 18 with a new ambassador from Chile to the Holy See, Pope John Paul II expressed delight at the news that Chile has abolished the death penalty.
The Pontiff told Maximo Pacheco Gomez that the decision to drop the death penalty should inspire Chile to other efforts that might cut against the grain of modern ideology, such as the defense of family life and “a zealous and unyielding respect for the life of every human being, from conception to natural death.”
In his reply to the Pope, the new ambassador issued an invitation for the Pontiff to visit Chile once again. (John Paul traveled to Chile in 1987.) The envoy said that he had been specifically directed by Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar to make that formal invitation.
Back to Catholic World Report August/September 2001 Table of Contents