Pope Francis condemned corruption claiming it was a worse evil than sin, but compared it to bad breath, 'someone who has it hardly ever realises it'. The Pontiff was meeting delegates from the International Association of Penal Law in the Vatican. He also condemned the process of extraordinary rendition, holding prisoners without trial and the death penalty. Scroll down for video . Pope Francis warned that corruption was a greater evil than sin and needed to be cured . He called for the abolition of capital punishment even describing imprisonment as its own death penalty . Pope Francis was addressing members of the International Association of Penal Law in the Vatican . He said: 'The scandalous accumulation of global wealth is possible because of the connivance of those with strong powers who are responsible for public affairs. The corrupt one does not perceive his own corruption. It is a little like what happens with bad breath: someone who has it hardly ever realises it; other people notice and have to tell him' 'Corruption is an evil greater than sin. More than forgiveness, this evil needs to be cured.' Pope Francis said some states used 'extra-judicial executions' as an unintended consequence of an action. He claimed that the death penalty has been used 'an instrument of suppression of political dissent or of persecution of religious or cultural minorities'. Pope Francis also warned against the use of pretrial detention. He said it is being used improperly as another form of unlawful punishment that is 'hidden behind legality'. He said: 'In the world today, torture is used not only as a means to achieve a particular purpose, such as a confession or an accusation—practices that are characteristic of a doctrine of national security — but also adds to the evil of detention.' He continued: 'Criminal code itself bears responsibility for having allowed, in certain cases, the legitimacy of torture under certain conditions, opening the way for further abuse.' He said: 'Caution in the application of penal codes must be the overarching principle of legal systems … and respect for human dignity must not only act to limit the arbitrariness and excesses of government agents but as the guiding criterion for prosecuting and punishing behaviors that represent the most serious attacks on the dignity and integrity of the human person.' Pope Francis said he believed the death penalty was an abuse of human rights and warned against the rise of 'penal populism' where politicians attempt to solve the problems in society by a tough stance on crime rather than following a path of social justice. He said the media and politicians advocated  'violence and revenge, public and private, not only against those responsible for crimes, but also against those under suspicion, justified or not'. Pope Francis said the criminal code should protect human dignity when instead it legitimises torture . Pope Francis warned that national security was being used as an excuse to perpetrate injustice . He said: 'It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples’ lives from an unjust aggressor . 'All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment. 'Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.' He said: 'The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor that cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically non-existent.' Pope Francis said that prison conditions should respect a person's dignity while they are deprived of liberty .
Pope Francis compared corruption to bad breath in a Vatican address .
Like bad breath 'the corrupt one does not perceive his own corruption'
The Pontiff warned against the use of the death penalty and torture .
He described the use of life sentences as their own form of death penalty .
Pope Francis condemned corruption claiming it was a worse evil than sin, but compared it to bad breath, 'someone who has it hardly ever realises it'. The Pontiff was meeting delegates from the International Association of Penal Law in the Vatican. He also condemned the process of extraordinary rendition, holding prisoners without trial and the death penalty. Scroll down for video . Pope Francis warned that corruption was a greater evil than sin and needed to be cured . He called for the abolition of capital punishment even describing imprisonment as its own death penalty . Pope Francis was addressing members of the International Association of Penal Law in the Vatican . He said: 'The scandalous accumulation of global wealth is possible because of the connivance of those with strong powers who are responsible for public affairs. The corrupt one does not perceive his own corruption. It is a little like what happens with bad breath: someone who has it hardly ever realises it; other people notice and have to tell him' 'Corruption is an evil greater than sin. More than forgiveness, this evil needs to be cured.' Pope Francis said some states used 'extra-judicial executions' as an unintended consequence of an action. He claimed that the death penalty has been used 'an instrument of suppression of political dissent or of persecution of religious or cultural minorities'. Pope Francis also warned against the use of pretrial detention. He said it is being used improperly as another form of unlawful punishment that is 'hidden behind legality'. He said: 'In the world today, torture is used not only as a means to achieve a particular purpose, such as a confession or an accusation—practices that are characteristic of a doctrine of national security — but also adds to the evil of detention.' He continued: 'Criminal code itself bears responsibility for having allowed, in certain cases, the legitimacy of torture under certain conditions, opening the way for further abuse.' He said: 'Caution in the application of penal codes must be the overarching principle of legal systems … and respect for human dignity must not only act to limit the arbitrariness and excesses of government agents but as the guiding criterion for prosecuting and punishing behaviors that represent the most serious attacks on the dignity and integrity of the human person.' Pope Francis said he believed the death penalty was an abuse of human rights and warned against the rise of 'penal populism' where politicians attempt to solve the problems in society by a tough stance on crime rather than following a path of social justice. He said the media and politicians advocated  'violence and revenge, public and private, not only against those responsible for crimes, but also against those under suspicion, justified or not'. Pope Francis said the criminal code should protect human dignity when instead it legitimises torture . Pope Francis warned that national security was being used as an excuse to perpetrate injustice . He said: 'It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples’ lives from an unjust aggressor . 'All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment. 'Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.' He said: 'The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor that cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically non-existent.' Pope Francis said that prison conditions should respect a person's dignity while they are deprived of liberty .
without trial and the death penalty. Scroll down Law in the Vatican . He said: 'The scandalous one does not perceive his own corruption. It is a minorities'. Pope Francis also warned against the used improperly as another form of unlawful