On November 29, the Community of San’Egidio held a ceremony in Rome to honor Connecticut, which last April became the fifth state in five years to abolish the death penalty. As part of this ceremony they illuminate the Colosseum–they have done this for every state and nation that has abolished the death penalty. Since I worked for many years on the abolition of the death penalty as part of my pro-life witness, I wanted to share with everyone this profoundly joyous moment. I could not be there, but even the tape has moved me to tears.
The actual lighting and a short speech in English (by a man who spent 18 years on death row before being exonerated) starts around 47 minutes into the video.
