On behalf of the bishops of Florida, Dale Recinella started ministering to prisoners on death row and in "long-term solitary confinement."
He and his wife, Dr. Susan Recinella, minister together, also during executions -- Dale to the convict, Susan to the families of both the condemned and the victims.
Dale has written several books, but his latest one has been prefaced by Pope Francis.
A Christian on Death Row: My Commitment to Those Condemned will be published by the Vatican Publishing House (LEV) on August 27.
The 72-year-old former Wall Street lawyer has been in this ministry for more than 25 years.
Jubilee commitment
Pope Francis has often spoken against the death penalty, a conviction he believes is inhumane because it does not leave room for hope.
The Holy Father explains in the preface that he met Recinella in an audience and got to know him better through articles in L'Osservatore Romano and "now through this deeply moving book."
The Pope writes of his ministry:
His is an extremely difficult, risky, and arduous task, because it touches evil in all its dimensions: the evil committed against the victims, which cannot be undone; the evil the condemned person is living through, knowing they are destined for certain death; the evil that, through the practice of the death penalty, is instilled in society.
Yes, as I have repeatedly emphasized, the death penalty is in no way a solution to the violence that can strike innocent people. Capital executions, far from bringing justice, fuel a sense of revenge that becomes a dangerous poison for the body of our civil societies. States should focus on allowing prisoners the opportunity to truly change their lives, rather than investing money and resources in their execution, as if they were human beings no longer worthy of living and to be disposed of. In his novel The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky succinctly encapsulates the logical and moral unsustainability of the death penalty, speaking of a man condemned to death: "It is a violation of the human soul, nothing more! It is written: 'Thou shalt not kill,' and yet, because he has killed, others kill him. No, it is something that should not exist."
Indeed, the Jubilee should commit all believers to collectively call for the abolition of the death penalty, a practice that, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person!" (n. 2267).
Always God's children
Divine mercy can "be scandalous," the Pope continues.
But is it not true that Jesus welcomed into His embrace a thief condemned to death? Well, Dale Racinella has truly understood and testifies with his life, every time he crosses the threshold of a prison, especially the one he calls "the house of death," that God's love is boundless and immeasurable. And that even the most heinous of our sins does not mar our identity in God's eyes: We remain His children, loved by Him, cared for by Him, and considered precious by Him.
Read the preface at Vatican Media.
