Pope Francis has renewed the Catholic Church’s call to eliminate the death penalty, going one step further to blast life sentences and urge countries to prohibit the practice of transferring prisoners to torture centers.
Speaking to the International Association of Penal Law, Pope Francis called on countries to improve prison conditions, but also condemned the use of extraordinary rendition, in which individuals from one country are detained and transferred to another. Oftentimes, detainees are held in secret prisons and could be subjected to torture.
This practice was infamously employed by the CIA in the wake of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks, with the help of key allies. Francis also criticized those who helped facilitate the practice.
