A papal appeal didn’t stop Kelly Gissendaner’s execution, whichtook place Wednesday morning in Georgia nearly 17 years after she was convicted of arranging the murder of her husband. Pope Francis sent a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles asking that her death sentence be commuted and made it clear in his speech to Congress last week that he opposes the death penalty in all cases, saying that “a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.”

The pardons board in Georgia disagreed with the pontiff, and so do many American Catholics. MORE