Pope Francis Calls For An End To The Death Penalty

Pope Francis has called for an end to the death penalty worldwide, favoring rehabilitation over capital punishment, Al Jazeera is reporting.

I ask you to join me in praying for my trip to Cuba and the United States. I need your prayers.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) September 18, 2015

In an unprecedented address to a joint session of Congress (Pope Francis is the first Pope to ever make such an address, according to the Atlantic), the 78-year-old Pontiff touched upon the European refugee crisis and other ongoing human-rights issues. About the death penalty, Pope Francis had some particularly pointed words.

“Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ (Matthew 7:12). This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.”

Unlike most other developed, first-world nations, the United States routinely carries out the death penalty on condemned criminals, much to the consternation of human rights watchdog groups like Amnesty International.

“The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading. Amnesty opposes the death penalty at all times — regardless of who is accused, the crime, guilt or innocence or method of execution.”

Of particular concern in the U.S. of late is the method of execution in the few remaining states in the U.S. that continue to carry out the death penalty (chief among them Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma). In at least two cases in the past two years, according to Death Penalty Info, condemned men who were to be put to death by lethal injection — a “humane” method of execution — instead gasped and writhed in agony for over half an hour before finally dying.

Do you agree with Pope Francis that the death penalty should be abolished? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

[Image courtesy of: Getty Images / Rob Carr]