In an his­toric address before a joint ses­sion of the United States Congress, Pope Francis called for the abo­li­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Linking to the broad­er theme of pro­tect­ing human life and dig­ni­ty, he said, ​“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.” He com­mend­ed the United States bish­ops for their com­mit­ment to abo­li­tion. He went on to say, ​“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.” This was the first time a pope had addressed the U.S. Congress. Pope Francis has made sev­er­al pre­vi­ous state­ments against the death penal­ty, includ­ing an address to the International Association on Penal Law and a let­ter to the International Commission Against the Death Penalty.

(M. Berman, ​“Pope Francis tells Congress ​‘every life is sacred,’ says the death penal­ty should be abol­ished,” Washington Post, September 24, 2015; S. Dinan, ​“Pope pro­pos­es ​‘gold­en rule’ of pol­i­tics, demands end to death penal­ty,” The Washington Times, September 24, 2015; ​“Read the full text of Pope Francis’ address to US Congress,” Catholic News Agency, September 24, 2015.) See New Voices and Religion. Photo: Associated Press/​Carolyn Kaster.

Citation Guide