“War only brings death and destruction. I call on all parties to keep alive the flame of dialogue and self-control and avoid the shadow of enmity.”

Members of the 13-million-person denomination have been at odds for years over the issue.

We are never more ourselves than when we express ourselves.

Perhaps predictably, Catholics who have come to view Pope Francis as a threat to the clarity of church teaching could only see the worst in the pope’s angry reaction to the grasping pilgrim.

Regardless of where one stands on the death penalty, however, all Catholics must not lose sight of the souls on death row who await the judgment that state-enforced terminations will quicken.

Ecological sin was discussed at length during Synod of Bishops for the Amazon in October