A renewed clash over capital punishment emerged Friday, April 24th as the federal government moved to expand execution methods while Pope Leo XIV reiterated the Catholic Church’s longstanding opposition to the death penalty.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced it will authorize firing squads as a federally permitted method of execution, part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to revive and expand the use of capital punishment at the federal level.
Within hours of that announcement Pope Leo delivered a strong rebuke, emphasizing the sanctity of human life in a prerecorded message shared with DePaul University in Chicago. The address marked the 15th anniversary of Illinois abolishing the death penalty.
“We affirm that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed,” said Leo.
The pope’s remarks underscored a widening divide between Catholic teaching and current U.S. policy. The Catholic Church has consistently opposed the death penalty, maintaining that all human life – from conception to natural death – should be protected.
Earlier in the day, Leo also criticized executions during remarks aboard the papal plane, responding to questions about capital punishment in Iran.
The timing of his comments, coming just hours after the Justice Department’s announcement, highlighted the growing tension between religious leaders and the administration on a range of issues, including criminal justice and immigration enforcement.
U.S. Catholic bishops have already challenged administration policies in court. In February, they filed an amicus brief opposing the federal government’s stance on birthright citizenship, signaling broader institutional resistance beyond the death penalty debate.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the federal government will not only add firing squads as an option but also reinstate lethal injection using pentobarbital, a sedative that had been discontinued during the Biden administration.
The prior review concluded that pentobarbital could cause unnecessary pain and suffering, prompting its removal. However, the current Justice Department disputes those findings, stating the earlier analysis misinterpreted scientific data and asserting that the drug renders inmates unconscious quickly enough to prevent pain.
The protocol itself dates back to Trump’s first term when then-Attorney General Bill Barr oversaw the reintroduction of federal executions and replaced an older three-drug method used in the early 2000s.
The new directive aligns with President Trump’s broader push to prioritize seeking and carrying out death sentences in federal cases.
While rarely used in modern times, firing squads remain legal in several states. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah all permit the method under certain conditions.
The federal government’s decision to include it as an option marks a significant shift in execution policy, reflecting ongoing debates about the availability and reliability of lethal injection drugs.
The policy changes come at a time when the number of inmates on federal death row has been significantly reduced. During the final days of his presidency, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life in prison.
Three individuals remain on federal death row: Dylann Roof, convicted of killing nine Black parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; and Robert Bowers, who carried out the 2018 attack at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Despite the smaller number of federal inmates awaiting execution, the Justice Department has moved forward with pursuing capital punishment in new cases, with 44 defendants currently facing potential death sentences.
At the same time, executions nationwide have increased sharply. Data from the Death Penalty Information Center shows executions rose from 25 in 2024 to 47 in 2025, with Florida accounting for a significant share of that increase.