POPE FRANCIS AND ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY

That this House welcomes Pope Francis's call for worldwide abolition of the death penalty on 21 February 2016, and welcomes his call for Catholic national political leaders to suspend the death penalty during the Catholic Church's Year of Mercy, which began on 8 December 2015 and ends on 20 November 2016; believes that the death penalty, the state sanctioned killing of citizens, which replaces justice with revenge, is barbaric and carries the constant risk of innocent people being put to death, has no place in a civilised society and should be rejected and opposed by all Christian churches and all religions and faiths and belief systems; notes that in 2014 at least 2,466 people were sentenced to death, and that this is a 28 per cent increase on the previous year; and calls on other religious and spiritual leaders to follow Pope Francis's example and back worldwide abolition of the death penalty.