Pope Leo XIV Declares Death Penalty «Inadmissible» as US Plans Livestreamed Execution
Pope Leo XIV marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty by reaffirming Catholic teaching that capital punishment violates human dignity, hours after the Vatican secretary of state condemned a planned livestreamed firing squad execution in the United States.
Pope Leo XIV declared capital punishment «inadmissible» on Saturday, using the World Day Against the Death Penalty to reaffirm the Catholic Church's opposition to executions, hours after the United States announced plans to livestream a firing squad execution.
In a post on X under his official handle @Pontifex, the American pope quoted the revised Catholic teaching introduced by Pope Francis, stating that the death penalty «attacks the inherent dignity of a human being.» He wrote that «the common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,» adding that «effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption.» The post concluded with the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty.
The statement came after the U.S. Defense Department announced Thursday that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood military base, will be livestreamed. Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood on December 3. He was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the attack.
Pope Leo did not refer specifically to the planned execution or to a recent botched lethal injection in Tennessee that has revived debate over capital punishment in the United States. However, his top deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said explicitly that the planned public execution was «unacceptable» and «truly incomprehensible.»
«The Church's position is one of total opposition to the death penalty; it is incompatible with human dignity and serves as no deterrent,» Parolin said in comments carried by Vatican News. «It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle; even if the person is guilty, of course, there are other methods.»
The head of the U.S. bishops conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed «shock» and «great sorrow» at the Pentagon's plans. «In no way can Hasan's actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered,» he said in a statement Friday. «The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.»
Pope Francis in 2018 amended official Catholic teaching to declare capital punishment «inadmissible» in all circumstances. Previously, the Catechism of the Catholic Church said the church did not exclude recourse to capital punishment «if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.» Past popes upheld that position, though St. John Paul II began urging an end to the practice and stressed that guilty people were just as deserving of dignity as innocent ones.
Like Francis before him, Leo has made visiting prisons a key part of his papal travel, seeking to give a message of hope to inmates and underscore their inherent dignity. «If any of you fear being abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that the church will stand by your side,» Leo told inmates at the Bata prison in Equatorial Guinea during his visit in April. He is scheduled to visit a prison in Buenos Aires during his upcoming tour through Latin America.
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