President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment.

Pope Francis has called on all nations to eliminate the death penalty, to divert a fixed percentage of arms spending to a global fund to fight hunger and climate change, and to cancel the international debt of developing nations.

We are at a critical juncture in the U.S. death penalty abolition movement. And we as Catholics—including President Biden—can heed the words of Pope Francis and light the way.

Pope Francis offered a heartfelt appeal for death row prisoners in the United States, which significantly comes as Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in the country’s history, nears the end of his term.

Missouri plans to proceed with the lethal injection of Marcellus Williams on Sept. 24, despite doubts about his guilt and widespread backlash.

Drawing on work of lay Catholic prison chaplain Dale Recinella, Pope Francis paints death penalty as toxic and ineffective.