Pope Francis has issued a call to all Christians to stand up and end the death penalty in their home countries.

“It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples’ lives from an unjust aggressor,” Francis said Wednesday in a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law according to Catholic News Service.

“All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment,” he said. “Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.”

Most Americans still support the death penalty.  A Gallup poll released Wednesday showed 63% of Americans still support capital punishment.  The total is still lower than the high of 80% reached in 1994 but still a large majority of citizens.

The Pope spoke out about prisoners being held around the world without trial.  In many of those cases, death penalties are being issued without a clear and open process.