The subject was the same, but the timing was purely coincidental. Last Friday afternoon, the U.S. Justice Department announced an expansion of the federal death penalty, just hours before Pope Leo delivered a video statement urging U.S. Catholics to work for the abolition of capital punishment. Nevertheless, the dueling messages were inevitably seen in light of the ongoing contretemps between the Trump administration and the pope, underscored by the stark difference in the tone and content of the two announcements.
The administration made no secret of its eagerness to resume and expedite executions. It is lifting prohibitions on single-drug lethal injections of pentobarbital, which had been discontinued because of concerns that it caused unnecessary pain and suffering. It is calling for the use of firing squads and electrocution. It wants to build more facilities for carrying out executions and limit the ability of inmates on death row to appeal their cases. Not surprisingly, the administration—still fixated on the Biden presidency—took swipes at Trump’s predecessor for causing “untold harm to the public” by placing a moratorium on the federal death penalty and commuting many death-penalty sentences to life without parole. Trump, of course, has already overseen more federal executions than any president in modern history, and after losing the 2020 election, he rushed to execute thirteen more people before leaving office.
Hours after the Justice Department announcement, Pope Leo sent a prerecorded video message to a gathering at DePaul University in Chicago marking the fifteenth anniversary of the abolition of capital punishment in the pope’s home state of Illinois. In his irenic delivery, he reaffirmed current Church teaching, which says that the death penalty is “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”
“We affirm that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed. Furthermore, effective systems of detention can be and have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption,” he said, offering his “support to those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States of America and around the world.” He prayed that “[their] efforts will lead to a greater acknowledgement of the dignity of every person, and will inspire others to work for the same just cause.”
Neither the pope nor the Justice Department likely knew of the other’s planned announcements on the same topic for the same day. But their juxtaposition led to headlines that linked the two, such as “Pope Leo condemns capital punishment amid US execution push” and “Pope Leo reiterates opposition to death penalty on same day U.S. approves firing squads.” And, coming less than two weeks after a public war of words between Trump and Leo about the war in Iran, this latest clash seems to fuel the narrative of a political fight between the president and the pope. While it’s true that neither was directly addressing the other in this case, it’s also true that each side knows of their fundamental disagreement on the issue. Trump keeps pushing policies that are opposed by Catholic teaching, and this U.S.-born pope doesn’t seem to be willing to keep quiet about them.
Public support for the death penalty in the United States is at historic lows, with Catholic support declining as part of that overall trend. Those who oppose capital punishment argue that it contradicts the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and point to data that it is unfairly and unevenly applied, especially along racial lines; does not deter crime and thus does not increase public safety; is more expensive than life incarceration; and has resulted in the executions of innocent people. Yet a majority of U.S. Catholics still favor executions of someone convicted of murder, and some conservative Catholics insist the current teaching is not binding.
Pope Francis strengthened the Church’s teaching against the death penalty in 2018, in response to a “new understanding” about human dignity and capital punishment. The revision in the Catechism of the Catholic Church also cited contemporary methods of detention that ensure safety without state killing. Previously, the Church allowed the death penalty in “rare, if not practically nonexistent” cases in which execution was the only way to defend human lives. Pope John Paul II also opposed the death penalty, arguing in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae that it should be eliminated or severely restricted.
At the DePaul event, called “A Beacon of Light in Darkness,” Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, noted that although the Church’s teaching has developed on this issue over time, some still use religion to justify divine vengeance. But she sees hopeful signs in juries that today are reluctant to impose a death sentence, and in the majority of states that do not execute prisoners. “We don’t have to be a society that kills its citizens,” she said, “but a society that is for life across the board, not just for the innocent, but for the guilty as well.”
Chicago cardinal Blase Cupich, in a message read by Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Sullivan, argued for the Church’s “consistent ethic of life,” which defends all human life, from conception to natural death. His statement says:
Is the right to life conditional or unconditional? Can we hold the right to life of the unborn and yet claim that men and women can forfeit their right to life by their behavior? Or is that right irrevocably given by God? A state that upholds the death penalty makes it harder to defend life against other threats. This anniversary is not just a look back at a legislative victory. It is a call to look forward and to be consistent in defending the inherent and inalienable value of every human life.
Illinois officially ended the death penalty with legislation passed in 2010 and signed by then-governor Patrick Quinn, a Democrat, in 2011. The previous governor, George Ryan, a Republican, had placed a moratorium on executions a decade earlier, after more than a dozen death row inmates had been exonerated, exposing the flaws in the system. But a moratorium—such as the current one in California under Governor Gavin Newsom, or the one imposed by Biden—can be overturned.
When faced with whether to sign the legislation, Quinn, who is Catholic, sought to form his conscience by researching Abraham Lincoln’s views and reading not only Scripture but also Prejean’s book. He also heard from actor and activist Martin Sheen and from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said that Nelson Mandela encouraged him to follow South Africa’s lead in getting rid of capital punishment. Quinn said he was especially inspired by The Gift of Peace by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. “After reading that, it was clear in my mind what our faith teaches us,” he said at the DePaul event. “I decided the right thing to do was sign it into law.”
He later learned that after he signed the legislation, his office received a note through an online form from Robert F. Prevost, thanking him for his “courageous decision.” “I know it was a difficult decision, but I applaud your vision and your understanding of the very complex matter. You have my full support!” said the message from the priest who would eventually become Pope Leo.
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