Editing Pope John Paul II (section)

=== Capital punishment ===
John Paul II was an outspoken opponent of the death penalty, which was a break from previous popes regarding the practise. At a papal mass in [[St. Louis, Missouri]], in the United States he said:

<blockquote>"A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/1403 |title=Religious Views: Pope John Paul II's Statements on the Death Penalty |publisher=Death Penalty Information Center |access-date=3 November 2013}}</ref></blockquote>

During that visit, John Paul II convinced the then [[Governor (United States)|governor]] of Missouri, [[Mel Carnahan]], to [[commutation (law)|commute]] the death sentence of convicted murderer Darrell J. Mease to life imprisonment without parole.<ref>Trigilio Jr., Rev. John, Rev. Kenneth Brighenti and Rev. Jonathan Toborowsky. ''John Paul II for Dummies'', p. 140, John Wiley & Sons, 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-471-77382-5}}</ref> John Paul II's other attempts to commute the sentences of [[death-row]] inmates were unsuccessful. In 1983, John Paul II visited [[Guatemala]] and unsuccessfully asked the country's president, [[Efraín Ríos Montt]], to commute the sentence for six left-wing guerrillas sentenced to death.<ref>Virginia Garrard-Burnett. ''Terror in the Land of the Holy Spirit: Guatemala Under General Efrain Rios Montt, 1982–1983'', pp. 20–21, John Wiley & Sons, 2010 {{ISBN|978-0-19-537964-8}}</ref>

In 2002, John Paul II again travelled to Guatemala. At that time, Guatemala was one of only two countries in Latin America (the other being Cuba) to apply capital punishment. John Paul II asked the Guatemalan president, [[Alfonso Portillo]], for a moratorium on executions.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0802/p07s02-woam.html/(page)/3 |title=With Papal Prodding, Guatemala May End Executions |newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=24 May 2013 |access-date=3 November 2013}}</ref>