THE PHILIPPINES. CONVICTS ON DEATH ROW CAN THANK POPE, EDITORIAL

“If nobody has been sent to the lethal-injection chamber since 2001, the convicts can thank Pope John Paul II,” stated an editorial in the Philippine daily the Manilla Standard.
“President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo revealed yesterday in Rome that her stand against ordering executions was due to the influence of the Pope. “The President said the Pope was "very happy" that her deep Catholic ideals prevailed in her decision to impose a moratorium on the death penalty and her strong objection to the proposed divorce law and the use of artificial contraceptives that could cause abortion. “‘The Holy Father was very much concerned with peace and morality, public morality. He was very much against the death penalty, for instance. And he always communicated to me when he perceived that there was great pressure for me to execute the death penalty on one convict or another,’ she told CNN in an interview.”