Press Release

Un cristiano nel braccio della morte – A Christian on Death Row

By Dale Recinella

A shining witness of faith and love in the darkness of US prisons

Preface by Pope Francis

(Vatican Publishing House, pp. 192, 17 euros)

Vatican City, Tuesday 27 August 2024 – Dale Recinella recounts the powerful spiritual experience that overturned his existence, moving from the world of finance to that of prisons. The book Un cristiano nel braccio della morte. Il mio impegno a fianco dei condannati (A Christian on Death Row: my work alongside the condemned), available in bookshops from today, tells the story of a man who took Christ’s words seriously. Dale Recinella was a successful lawyer who managed millions of dollars on Wall Street for wealthy clients. He decided to change everything, following the advice of his parish priest: “See the world how God sees it”. Following a series of adventures, Recinella arrived one day in front of Florida State Prison with a daunting task: he, a husband and father, was to become the spiritual accompanier of a man sentenced to death. From that day on, Recinella accompanied dozens of prisoners condemned to death by the state, facing social ostracism, personal criticism and moralistic narrow-mindedness. To this, the former New York attorney replies: “It was Jesus who left me no choice. He leaves the ninety-nine righteous in the desert and goes in search of the one who is lost”. Murderers, multiple killers and perpetrators of heinous crimes have become the new friends of Dale Recinella, who brings them the gaze of God who condemns no-one, but who looks on everyone with infinite gentleness and tenderness. These pages, imbued with a truly unique evangelical simplicity, recount the inexorable strength that faith in Christ can generate, even in the places where we least expect to encounter the irreducible newness of the Gospel.

In the preface, the Pope thanks Recinella for his work. “His commitment as a lay chaplain, in a place as inhumane as death row, is a living and impassioned testimony to the school of God’s infinite mercy”. Francis goes on to reiterate that “the death penalty is in no way the solution to the violence that can strike innocent people… The Jubilee should commit all believers to call with one voice for the abolition of the death penalty”.

The author

Dale Recinella (1951) graduated in law and theology, and was a Wall Street attorney in the field of public and private finance. Since 1998 he has spiritually accompanied prisoners condemned to death as a lay chaplain in several prisons in Florida, along with his wife Susan. For this commitment, he has received several honours: in 1997 Notre Dame University named him an Exemplary Citizen and Believer, in 2000 the chaplains of the Union Correctional Institution proclaimed him Volunteer Citizen of the Year, and in 2021 the Pontifical Academy for Life awarded him the “Guardian of Life” prize.

Press contact:

helene.destombes@spc.va Tel. 06 69 698 45 366 Mob. 366 672 0498