Pope Francis gestures as he leaves at the end of a Jubilee audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, Feb. 20, 2016.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday
called for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty, saying the
commandment "You shall not kill" was absolute and equally valid for the
guilty as for the innocent.
Using some of his strongest words ever against
capital punishment, he also called on Catholic politicians worldwide to
make "a courageous and exemplary gesture" by seeking a moratorium on
executions during the Church's current Holy Year, which ends in
November.
"I appeal to the consciences of those who govern to
reach an international consensus to abolish the death penalty," he told
tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.
"The commandment "You shall not kill," has absolute value and applies to both the innocent and the guilty," he told the crowd.
The 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church allowed the
death penalty in extreme cases for centuries, but the position began to
change under the late Pope John Paul, who died in 2005.
The pope added that there was now "a growing
opposition to the death penalty even for the legitimate defense of
society" because modern means existed to "efficiently repress crime
without definitively denying the person who committed it the possibility
of rehabilitating themselves."
Francis made the comments to throw his weight behind
an international conference against the death penalty starting Monday
in Rome and organized by the Sant'Egidio Community, a worldwide Catholic
peace and justice group.
Francis, who has visited a number of jails since his
election as pope nearly three years ago - the latest in Mexico last
week - also called for better prison conditions.
"All Christians and men of good will are called on
to work not only for the abolition of the death penalty, but also to
improve prison conditions so that they respect the human dignity of
people who have been deprived of their freedom," he said.
In the past, the pope also denounced life
imprisonment, calling it "a hidden death penalty" and saying that more
should be done to try to rehabilitate even the most hardened of
criminals.
Source: globalpost
No comments:
Post a Comment