Photo/Illutration The letter sent to Pope Francis by the lawyers for Iwao Hakamada (Yuji Masuyama)

Lawyers and supporters of an “innocent Catholic” who spent nearly half a century behind bars after being sentenced to death are trying to arrange a meeting with Pope Francis when he visits Japan.

Iwao Hakamada, 83, was baptized during his long incarceration, and his supporters say he would receive a major psychological lift by meeting with the pontiff.

His lawyers in October last year requested the meeting in a letter sent to Pope Francis through a cardinal.

Francis is scheduled to land in Japan on Nov. 23 and visit Nagasaki and Hiroshima before offering Mass in Tokyo.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan has also asked the pope to meet Hakamada.

“Hakamada fought for close to half a century behind bars,” said Katsuhiko Nishijima, who heads the legal team of the former death row inmate. “If he should meet the pope, it would be a tremendous reward for him.”

Hakamada, a former professional boxer, was convicted of murdering a family of four during a robbery and setting fire to their home in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1966.

Although the Supreme Court finalized Hakamada’s death sentence in 1980, his lawyers and supporters provided evidence that led the Shizuoka District Court in 2014 to grant him a retrial and his release after nearly 50 years behind bars.

The Tokyo High Court in June 2018 overturned the retrial order. Hakamada’s lawyers have appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

Hakamada continues to live in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, with his older sister, Hideko, 86.

His supporters compiled the letters and diary entries he wrote while in prison into a publication that describes how he chose to be baptized.

During Christmas in 1982, Hakamada received candy from an association consisting of Roman Catholic worshippers as well as a bouquet from a chaplain’s group. After an exchange of letters, Hakamada the following year told Hideko that he wanted to be baptized.

On Dec. 24, 1984, Hakamada was baptized by Father Tatsuya Shimura.

“At that instant, I felt I was at the peak of the sole and greatest honor,” Hakamada wrote in his diary.

In later entries, he referred to himself as an “innocent Catholic.”

The long time behind bars has taken a psychological toll on Hakamada. He often refers to himself as “the pope” and says while leaving home, “I am going to Rome.”

Hideko believes her brother feels that by becoming the most respected presence he can wipe away the fear built up over the years when he did not know if the next day would be his last.

The Mass in Tokyo will be held on Nov. 25 at Tokyo Dome.

As of the evening of Nov. 19, neither Hideko nor Hakamada’s lawyers have received word about a possible meeting with the pope.

Hideko plans to ask her brother to go with her to Tokyo on Nov. 25.

“Iwao will be so happy if he were able to meet him,” Hideko said. “I will go by myself if I have to, just to meet him.”

Officials of the Vatican press office said only that Hakamada had been invited to the Mass in Tokyo by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan, not by the Vatican.

When the Vatican released the pope’s itinerary for Japan in October, there was no mention of a meeting with Hakamada.

Sources said no formal entry was included to avoid possible interference in Japanese domestic politics.

Francis has made clear his opposition to capital punishment, but Vatican sources also feel that if the pope were to raise his views during a meeting with Hakamada, his words could be taken as interfering with Japanese policy, which continues to carry out death sentences.

Although the Vatican wants to avoid causing a political stir, it might be possible to arrange some contact between Francis and Hakamada on the occasion of the Mass, the sources said.

(This article was written by Yuji Masuyama in Shizuoka and Shinichi Kawarada in Rome.)