ROME — Pope Francis has called on Christians to pray specifically for the inmates on death row in the United States, asking that their sentence may be commuted.
Let us pray together “for those on death row in the United States,” the pontiff tweeted out to his more than 50 million followers in nine languages.
“Let us pray that their sentences may be commuted, changed,” he continued. “Let us think of these brothers and sisters of ours and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death.”
While the pope has often spoken out against the death penalty, it is rare that he singles out one nation in his prayer intentions.
The Catholic Church’s teaching on the death penalty has evolved significantly over the past 25 years.
As a sovereign territory, the Vatican City State only abolished capital punishment in 1969 and for nearly all of the Church’s history the…
