Pope Francis held a personal meeting on Friday with Beniamino Zuncheddu, an Italian man exonerated earlier this 12 months after spending 33 years in prison for crimes he didn’t commit. The encounter took place within the library of the Apostolic Palace.
Zuncheddu, now in his 60s, was convicted in 1991 for the murder of three shepherds on the Italian island of Sardinia. The crimes occurred at night in a distant mountain area, and Zuncheddu was implicated by the one eyewitness, who initially stated he couldn’t discover the killer. The witness later accused Zuncheddu, reportedly under much pressure from a police officer.
Despite the dearth of solid evidence, Zuncheddu was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He remained incarcerated for over three many years, enduring harsh conditions and sharing crowded cells with as much as eleven other inmates.
During his imprisonment, Zuncheddu maintained his innocence and drew strength from his faith in God, whilst he lost what must have been a few of the perfect years of his life. Describing his time in prison as an inhumane experience, Zuncheddu said he survived daily by helping others who were worse off than himself. He also found resolve by trusting in God’s enduring love and pondering of his family.
In January 2024, the Italian Court of Appeals overturned Zuncheddu’s conviction, citing insufficient evidence and questions surrounding the reliability of the witness testimony. His release brought an end to a wrongful imprisonment that spanned greater than half of his life.
During the meeting with Pope Francis, Zuncheddu presented the pontiff with a duplicate of his book, ‘Io Sono Innocente’ (I Am Innocent), which he co-authored along with his appeal lawyer. The book, published in May 2024, recounts his ordeal and the role his faith played in helping him survive the experience.
Holding firm to his Christian beliefs, Zuncheddu has publicly expressed forgiveness for the person who falsely accused him, despite the long years of suffering that followed.
