Archbishop feels for Bali Nine families

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney says the killing of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran punishes their families more than those executed.

"In some ways capital punishment punishes the families more than those executed," Archbishop Anthony Fisher said in a statement on Wednesday.

"They must carry the memories for years to come."

He said his heart goes out to the Chan and Sukumaran families.

"There is enough violence in our world already without the legal system modelling it to others," said Archbishop Fisher, adding to the voices across the globe displeased with the overnight executions of eight people in Indonesia.

Archbishop Fisher had made a joint appeal for clemency for the two Australians on death row with the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed.

He said they share the condemnation of drug trafficking but did not support capital punishment, particularly when both men were rehabilitated.

Chan had become a Christian pastor, while Sukumaran was a talented artist, and both ran rehabilitation programs in prison.

"Refusing even to entertain appeals for mercy - even after the pair had demonstrably turned their lives around - seemed to us to damage our neighbour's reputation for justice," the Archbishop said.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said the executions did no honour to Indonesia.

"The whole saga has been offensive to human dignity and a serious failure of humanity," he said in a statement.

"It looks like human lives sacrificed for political gain."