Pope Francis has revised the church’s catechism to state that the death penalty is no longer admissible.

Sister Helen Prejean, an anti-death penalty activist and author of the book Dead Man Walking, joins Kevin Clarke to discuss Pope Francis' revision of the death penalty teaching.

The revised teaching declares that the death penalty is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, and that the church works "for its abolition worldwide."

Bishops J. Mark Spalding of Nashville, Richard F. Stika of Knoxville and Martin D. Holley of Memphis have written to Gov. Bill Haslam urging him to "use your authority as governor to put an end to the fast-track executions planned" in the state of Tennessee in the upcoming months.

Encouraging an act of mercy and arguing it would not compromise justice, Nebraska's three Catholic bishops said July 6 they oppose the scheduled execution in August of death-row inmate Carey Dean Moore.

In California, Catholic opponents of the death penalty are trying to protect the largest population of inmates awaiting execution in the Western Hemisphere.