Pope Francis meets wrongly-imprisoned Italian man freed after 33 years behind bars

Vatican City, Aug 23, 2024 / 16:45 pm

Pope Francis had a private meeting at the Vatican on Friday with an Italian man who was wrongly imprisoned for 33 years after being falsely accused of the triple homicide of three shepherds in 1991.

Beniamino Zuncheddu, now in his 60s, was released from prison in January after his murder conviction was overturned.

The only eyewitness to the crime, which took place in the mountains at night on the Italian island of Sardinia, first said he couldn’t identify the killer, but later accused Zuncheddu, a fellow sheep herder.

Zuncheddu’s conviction was overturned at the end of 2023 for insufficient proof after it was revealed the witness may have been told to name Zuncheddu by a police officer.

During their meeting in the library of the Apostolic Palace on Aug. 23, the exonerated man gave Pope Francis a copy of a book he wrote with his lawyer which was published in May: “Io Sono Innocente” (“I Am Innocent”).

According to Vatican News, Zuncheddu found the strength to endure decades of unjust imprisonment by trusting in God, and he has forgiven the person whose accusations put him in prison for over 30 years.