Women in Christianity the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work in "bringing help to suffering humanity". Much admired by Pope John Paul II, she was beatified in 2003, just six years after her death. Many Christian women and religious have been prominent advocates in social policy debates—as with American nun Helen Prejean, a Sister of Saint Joseph of Medaille, who is a prominent campaigner against the Death Penalty and was the inspiration for the Hollywood film "Dead Man Walking". Linda Woodhead states that, "Of the many threats that Christianity has to face in modern times, gender equality is one of the
Helen Prejean recent history of death penalty decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States and the record of George W. Bush as Governor of Texas. In 1998, Prejean was given the Pacem in Terris Award, named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls on all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. "Pacem in terris" is Latin for "Peace on Earth." Prejean now bases her work at the Death Penalty Discourse Network in New Orleans. She gives talks about the issues across the United States and around the world. She and her sister