Washington: As the Church honors St. Maximilian Kolbe on August 14, Catholics across the United States are drawing inspiration from the Polish martyr’s selfless act to intensify their work against capital punishment. St. Maximilian, who in 1941 offered his life in Auschwitz to save a young father, is now the patron saint of the pro-life movement a cause that many believers see as inseparable from the fight to abolish the death penalty.
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, Executive Director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, says Kolbe’s courage speaks directly to America’s ongoing moral struggle with state-sanctioned executions. In an interview marking the saint’s feast, she acknowledged both setbacks and hopeful trends in the U.S. death penalty landscape. While 2025 has seen an alarming rise in state-level executions 28 so far this year, compared to 25 in all of 2024 new death sentences remain near historic lows, with only 10 issued nationwide.
Murphy points to generational and religious shifts as key signs of progress. Gallup polling shows public support for capital punishment has fallen to 53%, its lowest since the 1970s. Among Catholics, the drop has been even sharper particularly for those who attend Mass weekly underscoring the impact of Church teaching since Pope Francis’s 2018 declaration that the death penalty is “inadmissible” as an assault on human dignity. Young Americans, especially Gen Z, are increasingly rejecting the practice, breaking from the patterns of previous generations.
For Murphy, this work is as much about hope as it is about justice. She likens capital punishment to light from a dying star still visible, but fading fast. Many executed this year were sentenced decades ago under laws that have since changed, and in some cases, juries have publicly admitted they would have chosen life over death if today’s evidence had been available.
The Catholic Mobilizing Network sees the Jubilee Year’s call to be “Pilgrims of Hope” as fuel for its mission. St. Maximilian’s feast is a reminder that radical acts of mercy can change lives not just for those saved, like Franciszek Gajowniczek, but for entire societies.
“I pray St. Maximilian will intercede for us,” Murphy said, “and bring hope to those weighed down by the heavy weight of state-sanctioned death.”