Pope Leo has taken another swipe at President Donald Trump and his administration.
Mere hours after the Justice Department announced it was lifting a moratorium on federal capital punishment and readopting firing squad executions, Leo sharply condemned the death penalty in a video message.
“The Catholic Church has consistently taught that each human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is sacred and deserves to be protected,” Leo said. “Indeed, the right to life is the very foundation of every other human right... In this regard, we affirm that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed.”
He continued, “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.”
Leo’s remarks were directed to DePaul University, a Catholic institution in his native Chicago. He sent the message in honor of the 15th anniversary of Illinois abolishing the death penalty.
The pontiff said executions are at odds with the Catholic Church, no matter the crime committed.
“Pope Francis and my recent predecessors repeatedly insisted that the common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,” he said. “Consequently, the church teaches that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”
There were no federal executions during the presidency of Joe Biden or the first 15 months of MAGA 2.0. The last execution at the federal level came in the final days of Trump’s first term.
The White House did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Leo’s message.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a Protestant, slammed Biden, who is Catholic, as he announced that the capital punishment moratorium was over.
“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” Blanche said.
Death by firing squad has been revisited at the state level in recent years due to a shortage of lethal injection drugs—an issue stemming in part from European pharmaceutical companies refusing to supply them.
Leo has clashed with the White House repeatedly since Trump ordered strikes on Iran, pleading for peace while the president has made threats as deranged as warning on April 7 that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
The first American pontiff has refused to join Trump’s “Board of Peace” and has yet to visit the United States since his election last spring. He has also criticized the administration’s migrant crackdown and will spend America’s 250th birthday with African migrants on a Mediterranean Island, far from the celebrations in Washington.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey released this week shows that Leo may be winning his battle with Trump, at least in terms of popularity among Americans. Trump had a 36 percent approval rating in the poll and a 62 percent disapproval rating, tied for his lowest level of the second term.
Meanwhile, the poll, conducted among 4,557 U.S. adults between April 15–20, found that Pope Leo’s favorability stands at 60 percent.
