Pope Leo XIV has renewed the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty, arguing that justice and public safety can be achieved without taking the lives of convicted offenders.
“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” the Pope said, maintaining that effective prison systems can protect society while preserving the possibility of repentance and redemption.
His remarks come amid renewed debate over capital punishment in the United States following the failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike in Tennessee on September 30, 2026.
Pike, 50, survived an attempted lethal injection after prison officials administered two doses of pentobarbital.
Her lawyers reported that she remained alive after the procedure and was subsequently taken to hospital.
The incident raised questions about execution procedures and the safety and reliability of lethal injection.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a crime she committed when she was 18.
Following the failed execution, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended executions for the remainder of 2026 and ordered an independent review of the incident. Religious leaders in the state have also called for Pike’s sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.
The United States has a divided legal framework on capital punishment, with individual states determining whether to retain the practice, subject to constitutional restrictions.
As of 2026, 27 states retain the death penalty, while 23 have abolished it.
The federal government and the US military also retain capital punishment for certain offences.
The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, a provision that has featured prominently in legal challenges to execution methods.
The Catholic Church formally revised its Catechism in 2018 to declare the death penalty inadmissible, citing human dignity and the availability of detention systems capable of protecting society without eliminating the possibility of redemption.
Pope Leo has continued to advocate for the abolition of capital punishment in the United States and worldwide, aligning with the Church’s position that every human life retains its dignity, including the lives of people convicted of serious crimes.
