Pope Francis appeals for US to commute death row sentences

By Joshua McElwee

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.

"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 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.

But the pontiff, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church, usually refrains from naming specific countries that continue the practice.

There are about 2,250 prisoners on death row across the U.S., according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center. About 40 are federal prisoners.

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

(This story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 1)