Vatican & World News 02.10.2026

Laudato a Jesus Christus, Vatican and World News.

In the headlines this Friday, October the 2nd. Bishops in the US state of Tennessee call on the governor to commute Christophe's death sentence after a failed execution attempt.

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi returns to Rome following his third peace mission to Moscow.

And Pope Leo says that in the age of search engines, the church needs artists to aid pastors in making the gospel accessible and understandable.

In the Vatican, I'm Joseph Tulloch.

The US state of Tennessee has carried out a failed legal injection on death row inmate Krista Pike.

In response, the Catholic and Episcopal bishops of Tennessee have now called on the governor to commute her death sentence, emphasizing their opposition to the death penalty in all cases.

Devin Watkins has the story. Tennessee's Catholic bishops joined the U.S.

state's Episcopal bishops to issue an ecumenical appeal in the wake of the twice-failed execution of Krista Pike on September 30.

In their joint statement, the bishops asked Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to spare Ms.

Pike's life and prevent another attempt to carry out her death sentence. The 50-year-old Ms.

Pike survived two doses of a lethal injection drug and was taken to hospital.

She had been sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.

Governor Lee subsequently suspended executions for the remainder of 2026 and ordered an independent review.

The bishops acknowledged the gravity of Ms. Slemmer's murder and the immeasurable suffering of her family.

They stressed that their appeal upheld the state's responsibility to hold perpetrators of violence accountable.

Yet accountability need not require another death, they wrote.

Affirming that every human being bears the image of God, the bishop stressed that even grave wrongdoing cannot erase a person's dignity or exclude the possibility of repentance and redemption.

Commuting her sentence, they said, does not deny justice, but declares that justice need not become vengeance.

Separately, Catholic Mobilizing Network, a U.S.-based organization that advocates abolition of the death penalty, called on Americans to never accept state-sanctioned killing.

There is nothing normal about taking a life, said Chris Ann Valiancourt Murphy, the organization's executive director.

The church teaches that the death penalty is inadmissible, she said, because every human life is sacred, no matter the harm one has caused or suffered,

and because we have more effective ways to protect society than to take another life.

Ahead of the botched execution, Tennessee's three Catholic bishops had petitioned Governor Lee to halt Ms. Pike's execution.

I'm Devin Watkins. Cardinal Mateo Zupi has returned from Moscow after his third mission to Russia.

During the visit, he met with Ukrainian prisoners of war, whose situation was a key focus of the talks.

As Debra Castellano-Lubov reports, the Cardinal's mission also aimed at facilitating the return of children to Ukraine.

Cardinal Mateo Zupi's third mission to Moscow, Russia, ended on the 30th of September.

following his previous visits in June of 2023 and October of 2024.

The Only Father's special envoy for humanitarian issues and the president of the Italian Bishop's Conference visited Ukraine last July, where he also toured camps holding Russian prisoners of war in the Lviv region.

During the visit, the Cardinal visited a camp holding Ukrainian prisoners of war.

He spoke with them, conveyed Pope Leo XIV's closeness, and expressed the hope that they would soon be able to return home.

The Apostolic Nuncio to Moscow, Archbishop Giovanni Daniello, accompanied the Cardinal throughout the three-day visit.

Cardinal Zupi met Yuri Yushikov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor.

Their talks focused on military and civilian prisoners, the search for missing persons, family reunification, and the repatriation of children.

The Cardinal also met with the Russian Federation's

Commissioner for Human Rights, Yana Lantratova, who thanked him for his constructive approach and Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova Belova.

We need to strengthen and speed up the checks, Cardinal Zuppi said, so that families can be reunited.

Also, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, visited the Russian capital from the 24th of August through the 28th.

During his mission to Moscow, he met with officials of the Russian

Federation, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate,

and members of the Catholic community in order to continue along a path of dialogue during one of the most difficult periods for international relations worldwide.

I'm Deborah Castellana-Lubov.

In the age of search engines, the Church stands in need of artists who can aid pastors in making the Gospel accessible and understandable.