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The death penalty

In 2018 the Catechism was revised to call capital punishment "inadmissible". Why some scholars and trad media call it a break with Scripture and Tradition, what CCC 2267, Evangelium vitae and Fratelli tutti say, and where the debate stands under Leo XIV.

Last reviewed October 9, 20261 outlet 3 people 1 dated event

On this page(8)

What trad media commonly claims
What the documents say
The historical and scholarly record
Where reasonable Catholics disagree
Key sources
Key outlets & voices
Timeline
Sources

For most of its history the Catholic Church taught that civil authority may, in principle, put grave criminals to death. Since John Paul II, papal teaching has moved steadily toward opposition, and in 2018 the Catechism was revised to call the death penalty "inadmissible". Many conservative and traditionalist commentators argue that the revision contradicts Scripture and Tradition. Its defenders call it a development of doctrine. Leo XIV has continued the line set by Francis.

What trad media commonly claims

A reversal of constant teaching. LifeSiteNews reported the 2018 revision with the headline "Two thousand years of error? Pope Francis moves closer to calling death penalty intrinsically evil" (LifeSiteNews). Fr. John Zuhlsdorf objected that the revised paragraph's footnote cites only Francis's own speech, argued that Scripture and the Fathers would not support the new position, and said it appeared to be a radical change (wdtprs.com).

The appeal to the cardinals (August 2018). An open appeal published by First Things asked the cardinals to urge Francis to withdraw the revision. It began with 45 signatories, scholars and clergy including Edward Feser and Joseph Bessette, co-authors of By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed (2017) (Feser); LifeSiteNews later counted 75 (LifeSiteNews). The signatories invoked canon 212 §3 and Genesis 9:6, and warned that the new text could be read as teaching that capital punishment is intrinsically evil. Coverage describes them as academics and clergy from Catholic institutions, not all of whom would call themselves traditionalists.

The "Declaration of Truths" (June 2019). Cardinal Raymond Burke, Bishop Athanasius Schneider and other bishops affirmed that the Church "did not err" in teaching that civil authority may "lawfully exercise capital punishment" where truly necessary to preserve the just order of societies (National Catholic Register).

Leo XIV (2025–26). On 30 September 2025 Leo XIV said that someone who opposes abortion but favours the death penalty "is not really pro-life" (CBS News). LifeSiteNews covered the remarks under a headline stressing his defence of an award to Senator Dick Durbin (LifeSiteNews), and has argued that linking the two issues conflicts with earlier teaching, citing Aquinas and Pius XII.

What the documents say

John Paul II, Evangelium vitae (1995), no. 56. Punishment should not go to the extreme of execution except in cases of absolute necessity, which today are "very rare, if not practically non-existent" (EV).
CCC 2267 before 2018. The 1997 text said the Church "does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor" (Jimmy Akin).
CCC 2267 after 2018. The new text, approved by Francis and published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) with a rescript dated 1 August 2018, recalls that recourse to the death penalty was "long considered an appropriate response" to grave crimes. It now teaches that the death penalty is "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", and commits the Church to working for its abolition worldwide (rescript; Vatican News). As Catholic Answers notes, Francis approved a CDF proposal rather than issuing the change in a document of his own.
The CDF's letter to bishops. Cardinal Luis Ladaria presented the change as "an authentic development of doctrine that is not in contradiction with the prior teachings of the Magisterium". He grounded it in a deeper awareness of human dignity, a better understanding of penal sanctions, and more effective systems of detention (letter).
Francis, Fratelli tutti (2020), nos. 263–270. The Church is "firmly committed to calling for its abolition worldwide" (263), and "it is impossible to imagine that states today have no other means than capital punishment" to protect people from an aggressor (267). The encyclical also calls life imprisonment a secret death penalty (268) (FT; America).
DDF, Dignitas infinita (2024), no. 34. The declaration lists the death penalty among violations of human dignity (vatican.va).
Leo XIV (2026). In a video message on 24 April 2026 to an event at DePaul University marking 15 years since Illinois abolished the death penalty, Leo XIV repeated the Catechism's wording and supported abolition efforts in the United States and worldwide (vatican.va; OPB; North Texas Catholic).

The historical and scholarly record

That the earlier tradition accepted capital punishment in principle is not disputed. A National Review commentary conceded that for centuries the Church held that civil authorities had this right, and the footnotes of the Declaration of Truths cite Genesis 9:6, Romans 13, Innocent III, the Roman Catechism and Pius XII. The dispute is over what follows.

The case against the revision. In their 2017 book, written before the change, Feser and Bessette defended the legitimacy of capital punishment in principle and regarded as mistaken John Paul II's judgment that cases of necessity are very rare. In 2018 Feser argued that the revision clashes with Scripture, the Fathers and earlier popes, who held capital punishment legitimate at least in principle even for purposes beyond the defence of society (Feser).
The case for development. Jimmy Akin points out that the Catechism as a whole is not infallible, and argues that the revision would contradict earlier teaching only if it held capital punishment to be intrinsically evil, which Ladaria's letter avoids (Akin). Robert Fastiggi, writing at Where Peter Is, argues that the Magisterium has the authority to settle the question, and that the 2018 signatories went beyond merely making their difficulties known.
Disputed sources. A 2017 Catholic World Report reply to Feser disputed his reading of Genesis 9:6, noting that there was no state in that part of the biblical narrative. A 2018 review of his book with Bessette argued that its patristic quotations were misleadingly selected and presented out of context. Whether the older teaching was taught infallibly by the ordinary magisterium is itself debated (Catholic World Report).

Where reasonable Catholics disagree

Does "inadmissible" mean "intrinsically evil"? The 2018 text grounds its judgment in human dignity and in present conditions, and does not use the language of intrinsic evil. Critics fear that implication; defenders such as Akin deny it. The interpretive question is open.
Binding force. A revised Catechism paragraph is authoritative ordinary teaching, which ordinarily calls for religious submission of mind and will (Lumen gentium 25; canon 752). Critics answer that it cannot bind against Scripture. See papal authority and "recognize and resist".
Application. Catholics also debate how the teaching bears on public policy. Leo XIV's linking of capital punishment to pro-life consistency, and his 2026 message as the U.S. government expanded execution methods, have kept that debate in the news.

What the documents do not support is the claim that the Church now permits capital punishment as a matter of ordinary prudence. Since 2018 the Catechism, Fratelli tutti and Leo XIV's statements have taught consistently that the Church seeks its abolition.