Subject: Give the adhesion to the petition by "Hands off Cain" - Citizens' and Parliamentarians' Campaign fo
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r the Abolition of the Death Penalty Worldwide by 2000, and by the
Transnational Radical Party-
FOR A UNIVERSAL MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS AND THE INSTITUTION OF A PERMANENT
TRIBUNAL TO PROSECUTE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
(the ways of adhesion are at the end of the following petition addressed to
the Pope)
Most Holy Father,
Millions of Christians are waiting to hear you speak on this day in
which the Church celebrates the triumph of life over death, symbolized by
Christ's supreme sacrifice on the cross.
Yours is a universal message that reaches far beyond the realms of
Catholicsm.
As does your pontificate: the untiring work done by Your Holiness and
your being recognized as a supreme authority, have as powerful an effect as
your lofty moral teachings. This is more than confirmed by the message sent
to you by the President of the United States at Christmas.
Your comforting words will be heard by people who live in a world of
torment. Their hopes and expectations at the end of the twentieth century
are mixed with disappointment and hatred, giving rise to complex social
situations that are difficult to govern. Quite a few countries have
followed the path of war and capital punishment to cut the Gordian knot;
but it is a desperate road that leads nowhere.
Only last December, Japan decided to revoke its moratorium on
executions, while the President of the Philippines signed a decree to
reinstate the death penalty; Catholic Brazil is heading in the same
direction. 1994 did not get off to a much better start: in the U.S. the
year began with an execution in the State of Idaho - the first in 37 years.
Many Eastern European countries have new Constitutions on their
parliamentary agendas, and this necessitates making a decision about the
death penalty. Capital punishment is a very real prospect in the future,
not a legacy from the past.
Many people have denounced the warlords, but nothing has been done. No
one has taken a stand against the death penalty.
We are therefore appealing to you, Most Holy Father, in the hope of
affirming a new right throughout the world and of arriving at a true
interpretation of the New Catechism of the Catholic Church, with your
binding pronouncement.
We have taken an ancient command from the Bible and made it ours with
"Hands Off Cain" to assert a new individual right that will begin to
establish that irreducible human value that makes us a single human family,
as the Secretary General of the United Nations said at the Vienna
Conference.
In 1993, two important international institutions began to make our
aspirations come true. The European Parliament affirmed - in a resolution -
that the State does not have the right to dispose of human life, and the
U.N. Security Council instituted the Tribunal to prosecute war crimes in
the Former Yugoslavia, excluding the death penalty in all cases.
U.S. law-makers are also sending out an important signal: by restricting
the sale of firearms they have opened up new horizons - and maybe acted
independently of public opinion that has always exerted considerable
pressure in the past.
We believe that the time has arrived, thanks to a new receptiveness, a
new possibility of creating awareness and founding common principles, to
put forward a request for a universal moratorium on executions, and for the
institution of a Permanent Tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity.
The suspension of the death penalty - wherever there is someone who will
heed your entreaties and the appeal that we signatories are addressing,
through Your Holiness, to the people who govern this earth - will allow the
necessary time for a new individual right, and international jurisdiction,
to be created, and affirmed.
Millions and millions of people see the cross as a symbol of peace, love
and brotherhood. Very few remember that it was an atrocious means of
inflicting capital punishment.
On this day in which God communicates His most sublime message regarding
peace and life, we are faithfully awaiting a sign from Your Holiness that
will give us reason to hope. So that the right to kill another human being
that Man has arrogated, might become no more than a distant reminder of
this millennium that is drawing to a close.
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TO ADHERE TO THE PETITION SEND US A MESSAGE TO S.DELIA@AGORA.STM.IT,
WRITING YOUR NAME AND SURNAME - ADDRESS - CITY/POSTAL CODE - COUNTRY -
TELEPHONE - FAX AND E-MAIL
IF YOU ALSO WISH, LIST:
-TO PARTECIPATE IN THE EASTER MARCH
-TO RECEIVE THE HANDS OFF CAIN NEWSPAPER REGULARLY
-TO JOIN THE HANDS OFF CAIN ASSOCIATION AS:
Regular member OR
Founder member
(Membership fees for EUROPE and NORTH AMERICA: 50.000 Lire for regular
member, 1.000.000 for founder member, or US$50 and US$1.000 respectively;
Membership fees for NORTH AFRICA and SOUTH AFRICA: US$5 regular member,
US$100 founder member; Membership fees for EASTERN EUROPE, ASIA and the
remainder of AFRICA: US$3 regular member, US$60 founder member; Membership
fees for CENTRAL and SOUTH AMERICA: US$10 regular member, US$100 founder
member).
The payment can be made with credit card or banker's order made out to
Partito Radicale account n.1504169, Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino,
Rome Branch
