roman-coliseum-photoOn Wednesday, the Roman Coliseum, one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, will be lit in honor of New Mexico repealing the death penalty.

Gov. Bill Richardson and Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan are part of a New Mexico delegation that will be honored in Rome.

The practice of lighting the Coliseum was begun by the Community of Sant’Egidio in 2002 when the international day “Cities for Life-Cities against the Death Penalty” was launched every year on the anniversary of the first abolition of the death penalty in the world by a state, the Granduchy of Tuscany on Nov. 30, 1786.

Another lighting of the Coliseum, decided by the Community of Sant’Egidio and the City of Rome, took place in December 2007 when the General Assembly of the United Nations called for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty as a first step toward abolition.

There is already one attempt to repeal the death penalty repeal in New Mexico — Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White is attempting to reinstate the death penalty by constitutional initiative. White has founded Repeal the Repeal PAC to aid in the effort.

The Roman Coliseum, of course, was once a site of executions.