Published on: Sunday, December 8, 2024

Pope Francis appealed on Sunday for U.S. authorities to commute the sentences of death row prisoners, in an unusual request during his weekly Sunday prayer in St. Peter's Square (article available here).

"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. Let us think of these brothers and sisters of ours and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death."

His prayer during the Angelus address comes as US President Joe Biden has the authority to commute the sentences of people on federal death row before he leaves office in January 2025.

Francis is a vocal advocate against the death penalty and changed the Catholic Church's teachings in 2018 to specifically call for a ban on the practice.

American Catholic groups have been calling on President Joe Biden to commute the federal sentences in his remaining time in office.