Pontiff
slates countries facilitating torture and says using prisons to fix social
problems is like treating all diseases with one drug
Pope Francis criticises capital punishment and life sentences in speech at penal law association. Photograph: Vatican pool/Getty Images |
Pope
Francis has branded life-long prison terms “a hidden death sentence” in an
attack on “penal populism” that included severe criticism of countries that
facilitate torture.
In a
wide-ranging speech to a delegation from the International Association of Penal
Law, the pontiff said believers should oppose life-long incarceration as
strongly as the use of capital punishment.
“All
Christians and men of good faith are therefore called upon today to fight, not
only for the abolition of the death penalty – whether it is legal or illegal
and in all its forms – but also to improve the conditions of incarceration to
ensure that the human dignity of those deprived of their freedom is respected.
“And this,
for me, is linked to life sentences. For a short time now, these no longer
exist in the Vatican penal code. A sentence of life (without parole) is a
hidden death penalty.”
In comments
likely to enhance his reputation as one of the most liberal of popes, Francis
went on to slam the risk of sentencing becoming disproportionately severe.
“In recent
decades a belief has spread that through public punishment the most diverse
social problems can be resolved, as if different diseases could all be cured by
the same medicine.”
Reiterating
Catholic teaching that capital punishment is a sin, the pope also made what
appeared to be a thinly veiled attack on the European countries which have
facilitated US demands for extraordinary rendition of terror suspects to
detention centres in parts of the world where they can be tortured with
impunity.
“These
abuses will only stop if the international community firmly commits to
recognising … the principle of placing human dignity above all else.”
No comments:
Post a Comment