A former Japanese professional boxer who spent 48 years in
prison for murders he says he did not commit was among some 50,000 people greeting
Pope Francis as he entered Tokyo Dome stadium to celebrate Mass on Monday.
Iwao Hakamada, who converted to Catholicism during his decades on death row, was invited to the Mass and was there with his sister, organizers said.
Francis decreed the death penalty “inadmissible” last year, in a change to the Catholic teachings called Catechism.