Vatican asks US to find 'humanitarian solution' for Guantánamo prisoners (original) (raw)

The Vatican has asked the US to find an “adequate humanitarian solution” for prisoners held at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre, a reflection of Pope Francis’s vocal concern that prisoners be treated with dignity and not be subject to inhumane treatment.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, made the request during a Vatican meeting with the US secretary of state, John Kerry.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi said the two sides discussed the US commitment to closing the facility. He said Parolin expressed the Holy See’s desire that “favourable attention be paid to finding adequate humanitarian solutions for current inmates”.

Pope Francis has spoken out forcefully about the need to protect prisoners’ rights and dignity, and has dedicated much of his pastoral care both as archbishop of Buenos Aires and as pope to ministering to inmates. Just this past weekend, he sent a letter of Christmas greetings to inmates at a prison in the Italian district of Latina urging them to use their time in detention as an opportunity for personal and spiritual growth.

Without citing the US by name, Francis has harshly criticised extraordinary renditions, which the CIA used after the September 11 attacks to take terror suspects to third countries for interrogation, and often torture. In an October speech, he denounced life prison terms as a “hidden death penalty”, and said putting inmates in isolation was a form of “physical and psychological torture”.

President Barack Obama has launched a new push to close Guantánamo, and recently a dozen prisoners were transferred out, leaving about 130 from a high of 700 on the US base in Cuba.

Lombardi said Kerry and Parolin also discussed Middle East peace efforts. He said the hour-long meeting only allowed for a brief discussion of Ukraine and the Ebola crisis.