The Vatican has sent a letter to a Japanese man acquitted of a 1966 quadruple murder in a retrial, expressing the pope's joy over the freedom of Iwao Hakamata who spent more than four decades on death row."His Holiness Pope Francis was pleased to be informed about your acquittal," according to the letter written on behalf of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Hakamata, 88, was baptized as a Catholic in 1984 while in detention and attended a Mass held by the pontiff at Tokyo Dome in 2019.The letter, dated Jan. 9 and accompanied with a rosary with an emblem of the Vatican, said the pope…READ FULL ARTICLE
