White House to bring back firing squads as Pope Leo XIV calls for U.S. death penalty to be abolished

The Trump administration has announced that it will bring back federal firing squad executions in the United States — a move it claims will “strengthen” the national death penalty — while Pope Leo XIV is simultaneously offering support to those seeking to abolish capital punishment in the U.S. and around the world.

The U.S. Department of Justice said on April 24 that it was moving to once again “seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences,” restarting the federal death penalty process that had been indefinitely stalled under the Biden administration.

Among the measures that the Justice Department said it will take include “expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad” as well as “streamlining” administrative processes to hasten executions by the federal government.

The government said it would also seek to restart carrying out lethal injections by pentobarbital, a barbiturate that prisoner advocates have said can cause extreme pain and suffering when used in executions.

In an accompanying report released on April 24, the Justice Department called pentobarbital “the gold standard of lethal injection drugs.” It described the drug as “more humane” than other modes of execution and pointed out that it has been used in assisted suicide procedures in the U.S. for those suffering from terminal illnesses.

Pope Leo XIV urges abolition of death penalty

The governmentʼs announcement came roughly at the same time on April 24 that Pope Leo XIV addressed, via video message, a gathering of activists at DePaul University celebrating the 15th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois.

The pope in his message noted that the Catholic Church teaches that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

The Holy See updated the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to explicitly call for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide. Leo likewise told the pro-life advocates in his hometown of Chicago that the Church “affirm[s] that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed.”

The Holy Father said he joined the advocates in celebrating the stateʼs 2011 abolition of the death penalty; he wrote that he offered his “support to those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States of America and around the world.”

“I pray that your efforts will lead to a greater acknowledgement of the dignity of every person and will inspire others to work for the same just cause,” the pope wrote.

Leoʼs message comes one day after he spoke out forcefully against executions aboard the papal plane returning from his apostolic visit to Africa.

Asked about Iranʼs reported large-scale executions, the pope said: “I condemn the taking of people’s lives. I condemn capital punishment. I believe that human life is to be respected and that all people — from conception to natural [death] — their lives should be respected and protected.”