The Trump administration announced Friday that it will authorize firing squads as a federally permitted method of execution, part of a broader push to revive the federal death penalty. Hours after the Justice Department’s announcement, Pope Leo XIV publicly condemned capital punishment as an assault on human dignity.
In a prerecorded video message shared with DePaul University in Chicago to mark the 15th anniversary of Illinois’ abolition of the death penalty, Pope Leo XIV reiterated that the Catholic Church teaches every human life—”from conception until natural death”—is sacred and worthy of protection. He emphasized that a person’s dignity is not forfeited even after the commission of very serious crimes.
Earlier the same day, speaking aboard the papal plane, the pope also denounced executions carried out by Iran’s government when asked about those cases. The close timing of the pope’s remarks and the administration’s policy move highlighted a widening rift between the Trump administration and many Catholic leaders, who have also criticized the administration’s immigration tactics, including widespread arrests of undocumented immigrants. In February, U.S. bishops filed an amicus brief challenging the administration’s stance on birthright citizenship.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department is also reauthorizing lethal injection using the sedative pentobarbital, which had been withdrawn by the Biden administration after a government review concluded the injection could cause unnecessary pain and suffering. The changes follow a presidential directive from Trump instructing the Justice Department to prioritize pursuing and carrying out death sentences.
The pentobarbital protocol was originally developed during Trump’s first term under then-Attorney General Bill Barr. The current DOJ report disputes the Biden administration’s findings, arguing that pentobarbital renders a prisoner unconscious quickly enough to prevent pain.
The Death Penalty Information Center notes that five states currently permit firing squads: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah.
Only three people now remain on the federal death row after President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 condemned inmates to life in prison during his final days in office: Dylann Roof, convicted of murdering nine parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018. Despite the smaller federal roster, the Trump administration has moved to seek death sentences against 44 defendants.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, executions nationwide rose from 25 in 2024 to 47 in 2025, with a substantial portion of that increase occurring in Florida, which accounted for 19 of the 47 executions.