- President Donald Trump’s administration dropped a directive to bring back executions by firing squad on the same day Pope Leo advocated for the abolition of the death penalty.
- The Department of Justice directed prison officials Friday to bring back firing squads for federal executions, reviving a death penalty method that hasn’t been used by the U.S. government in centuries.
- It came on the same day that Pope Leo participated in an event at DePaul University in Chicago that marked the fifteenth anniversary of the decision to abolish the death penalty in the State of Illinois.
- “The Catholic Church has consistently taught that each human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is sacred and deserves to be protected,” the pope wrote alongside a link with his remarks at DePaul. “I offer my support to those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States of America and around the world.”
- It’s the latest development in a public feud between the pope and Trump, with Trump repeatedly verbally attacking the pope after he spoke out against the war in Iran and Trump’s threats to wipe out Iranian civilization.
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