On February 5, the Philippines Supreme Court rejected...

On February 5, the Philippines Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal to halt the execution of Leo Echegaray, who was put to death at 3.00 pm (0700 GMT) (see Philippines). The head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Archbishop Oscar Cruz, called it a "sad day." "Life is taken away - not by accident, not by sickness, not even by a criminal. But by no less than the state," he said. Pope John Paul II unconditionally supported the stand of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) against the death penalty. Speaking for the Pope and reiterating the Catholic Church's stand on capital punishment, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls said there is only one occasion where one is morally allowed to kill another person - in the case of self-defense. While admitting the state has a legal right to protect society from murderers and other criminals, the papacy finds no justification for the state to mete out the death penalty as punishment for crime.