Christian World | Catholic Mobilizing Network calls Gov. Gavin Newsom's commutation of all 548 California death sentences to life without parole a historic witness for life

ACW | November 6, 2026 — The Catholic Mobilizing Network, a U.S. Catholic group that opposes the death penalty, on Thursday called California Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to commute 548 death sentences "historic."

Newsom on Nov. 5 commuted the sentences of all 548 people on California's death row to life without the possibility of parole, EWTN News reported. In an open letter, he wrote that they "will die in prison but not by our hand."

"It is an incredibly encouraging and historic witness for life and advances human dignity," Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the network's executive director, said in a statement. She called it "the largest commutation in world history."

Murphy said the group also bears witness to "the incomparable suffering that the families and loved ones of murder victims endure" and holds them in prayer. The network urged the governors of Ohio, Kansas and Alabama to follow Newsom's lead.

Newsom said the California Supreme Court may need to weigh in on some of the commutations but that he was confident the action is consistent with state law, according to EWTN News.

Background: Newsom, who identifies as Catholic, signed an executive order in 2019 ensuring that no executions would take place while he is governor, EWTN News reported.

Why it matters: The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the death penalty "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person," EWTN News noted. The commutations change the sentences of 548 prisoners, according to the Catholic Mobilizing Network.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Sources: Catholic Mobilizing Network — On the action by Governor Newsom to grant universal clemency to California's death row; EWTN News — Catholic group praises California for 'largest commutation in history'

Photo: California State Capitol in Sacramento, seat of the governor's office (Leo_Visions, Unsplash; illustrative)