On August 17, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez,...

On August 17, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, Archbishop of Santo Domingo, manifested his opposition to the implementation of death sentence in the country. The Dominican Cardinal affirmed that capital punishment should disappear from legislation, for there exist other methods "in coherence with the principles of respect for human life from its conception to its natural death" in order to defend society from criminals. Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez recalled that human life must "be respected under every circumstance and that, consequently, society should look for other ways of protecting itself from these kind of people." On the other hand, he recognized that "the death sentence is always debatable," saying that on occasions the Church has legitimated it, "contemplating an exception."