Frank had a very troubled adolescence, with diagnoses of ADHD and bipolar disorder. Later, he suffered from depression and obsessive episodes, which he has lived with — and still lives with — by taking specific medications. Added to these were drugs and alcohol, which led him to violent actions, including taking a life.

Frank has been corresponding by letter with Gaia, a sister of the Hermitage of Campello sul Clitunno, since early 2021. Over time, Frank has changed. He wrote to Gaia in February 2022:

“My spiritual life and my walk with Christ Jesus are very important to me. I now live as a changed man, forever, thanks to the loving and merciful grace of God. Thank God. And here I have a mission as a servant of God, to share the Gospel.”

And again: “How dare I think of myself and my fate, being so selfish when I have caused victims and suffering to their families. I can only pray that the victims’ families may forgive me one day… I take full responsibility for my crimes! I have felt deep remorse for many years! I pray for the victims and their families! But this does not erase all the pain and suffering I have caused them!”

Gaia and the sisters of the Hermitage pray for him, and at his request they remember his victims and their families in prayer every week.

Through correspondence with religious men and women, he later found in the life of St. Benedict an opportunity for redemption, to the point of becoming, while in prison, an oblate of the Abbey of Atchinson in Kansas.

Together with the Community of Sant’Egidio and all those who have accompanied Frank over these years, we launch an appeal for his life to be spared. We ask for clemency for Frank Athen Walls and that his life be saved.