Italy's Radical Party thanked Pope Francis after the head of the Catholic Church on Sunday called for governments to grant amnesties to prisoners whenever possible.
At the weekend more than 17,000 detainees in prisons all over Italy took part a two-day hunger strike in support of the Radical Party's March for Amnesty, which took place in Rome on Sunday. The fourth March for Amnesty was in honour of a special Jubilee Mass for prisoners and dedicated to Pope Francis and late Radical leader leader Marco Pannella. Radical Party representatives Rita Bernardini, Irene Testa and Maurizio Bolognetti, who had been on hunger strike for 28 days, marched to Saint Peter's Square, where they were greeted by the pope's request to all governments to consider an act of clemency for eligible prisoners. On Sunday Francis held Mass for 1,000 serving prisoners at the Vatican from 12 countries and told them that they should never give up hope.
He also called for leaders to respect inmates' dignity and and to abolish the death penalty where it is in force.
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