POPE LOSES A LIFE

A 61-year-old African-American man has been executed in Missouri for multiple murder convictions against him, despite a personal plea for clemency from the Pope.

Ernest Lee Johnson was put to death by lethal injection for the 1994 murders of three convenience store workers during a botched robbery in Columbia, Missouri.

Governor Mike Parson had rejected appeals to halt the execution, including a letter from Pope Francis in which the Pontiff argued for clemency on the basis of “Mr Johnson’s humanity and the sacredness of all human life”.