Pope Francis led the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican on Sunday, as reported by Reuters.
During his weekly Sunday prayer in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis made an unusual request, appealing to US authorities to commute the sentences of death row prisoners. "Today, it comes to my heart to ask all of you to pray for the prisoners in the United States who are on death row," the pontiff said. "Let's pray that their sentence would be commuted (or) changed."
Francis has been a vocal advocate against the death penalty and revised the Catholic Church's teachings in 2018 to explicitly call for a ban on the practice. However, as the leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church, he typically avoids naming specific countries that continue to practice capital punishment.
According to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Centre, there are approximately 2,250 prisoners on death row across the US, with about 40 being federal prisoners. Some American Catholic groups have been urging President Joe Biden to commute the federal sentences during his remaining time in office.
Source link: https://www.khaleejtimes.com
