Pope Leo
In a post on X, the US pope cited the revised Catholic teaching on the death penalty announced by Pope Francis which says the death penalty attacks the inherent dignity of the human person.
“The public good can be protected and the demands of justice can be met without resorting to the death penalty,” the post read under Liu’s official handle, @Pontifex. “Effective detention systems have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time not completely depriving offenders of the possibility of redemption.”
The post ended with the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty.
The US Department of Defense announced on Thursday that the execution by firing squad of Nidal Malik Hassan, convicted of a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base, will be broadcast live. Hassan, scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood on December 3, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others.
Liu did not specifically refer to the scheduled execution or the botched lethal injection in Tennessee earlier that revived the debate over the death penalty in the United States. Saturday is the World Day Against the Death Penalty, and it is common for the Pope’s official social media accounts to post messages marking such celebrations.
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But Liu’s post came just hours after his deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, explicitly said the planned public execution in the United States was “unacceptable.”
Pope Francis declares the death penalty “unacceptable”
Pope Francis in 2018 amended official Catholic teaching to declare the death penalty “inadmissible” in all circumstances.
Previously, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official summary of church teaching, said the church does not rule out resorting to the death penalty “if this is the only possible way to effectively defend human life against an unjust aggressor.”
Previous popes have supported this position, although Saint John Paul II began urging an end to the practice and stressed that guilty persons deserve as much dignity as innocent people.
Like Francis before him, Leo has made visiting prisons a central part of his papal journey in an effort to give a message of hope to prisoners and emphasize their inherent dignity, that God loves them and that there is always a chance for redemption.
“If any of you are afraid of being abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that the Church will stand by you,” Liu told inmates at the notorious Bata prison in Equatorial Guinea during his visit in April. Liu is scheduled to visit a prison in Buenos Aires during his upcoming tour through Latin America.
Speaking specifically about the United States, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said the planned execution, which was broadcast live, was “truly incomprehensible” and “unacceptable for turning death into a spectacle.”
Parolin said in statements reported by Vatican News: “The Church’s position is one of complete opposition to the death penalty, which is inconsistent with human dignity and does not constitute a deterrent…” “It is really incomprehensible that anyone would want to use this system today – I don’t know for what purpose. It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle; even if the person is guilty, of course, there are other ways.”
The head of the United States Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed his “shock” and “deep sadness” over the Pentagon’s plans.
He said in a statement on Friday: “In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned, but this decision is a barbaric promotion of the culture of death and must be reconsidered.” “Public execution of even those who have caused serious harm will only undermine the moral fabric of our nation and will be a blight on the conscience of its people.”
& Edition 2026 The Canadian Press
