A convicted murderer with an intellectual disability has been executed in the US state of Missouri.
The 61-year-old Ernest Lee Johnson was executed with lethal injection on Tuesday (local time), the authorities said.
Republican governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, had denied demands by the Vatican and the man's lawyers to save him from the death penalty because of his intellectual disability.
"The state stands ready to bring justice to justice and carry out the lawful sentence Mr. Johnson received," said Parson. He referred to a decision by the Supreme Court that ruled that the death penalty could be carried out. The 61-year-old, who is said to have an IQ value of 67, killed three employees of a grocery store in a failed robbery in 1994.
The Vatican's envoy to the United States last week sent a letter to the governor on behalf of Pope Francis, demanding a suspension of the execution.
"This request is not based solely on the dubious intellectual ability of Mr. Johnson," the letter stated.
Rather, the Pope wants to point out "that Mr. Johnson is human and that all human life is sacred".
The execution of the mentally handicapped has actually been banned for a long time in the United States.
However, the exact definition of intellectual disability is left to the state.