Pope Benedict: Time to End the Death Penalty; About One-Third of World's Nations Still Use It

The National Catholic Register website reports today (December 1, 2011) that Pope Benedict XVI encouraged countries around the world to end the death penalty as a legal sanction at his general audience yesterday.

Addressing a group of pilgrims gathered in Rome for an international conference on the controversial topic, the Pope said he hopes that their deliberations "will encourage the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty."

About a third of the world's nations still use the death penalty as part of their legal code.

In the United States, there are currently 34 states where the death penalty is legal.