Expectations are growing that Pope Francis will meet with an 83-year-old man whose death sentence was recently suspended after a 48-year stint on death row, to send a clear signal about his opposition to capital punishment.
It was reported in mid-September that the Vatican is considering having the pope meet with Iwao Hakamada, the former boxer who was convicted of a 1966 quadruple murder, when the pontiff visits Japan next month. Hakamada was released in 2014 under a district court ruling citing DNA evidence and is awaiting retrial at the Supreme Court.
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