The administration of Donald Trump has announced plans to expand federal execution methods to include firing squads, while Pope Leo XIV has reiterated the Holy See’s call for the abolition of capital punishment, against the backdrop of debate among Catholics about the Church’s historical and doctrinal teaching on the death penalty.
The policy shift was outlined on April 24 by the US Department of Justice, coinciding with a papal message delivered to an anti-death penalty gathering in Chicago. Federal officials said the government intended to “seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences” after a period in which federal executions had been largely paused. The Justice Department said it would readopt the lethal injection protocol used during the first Trump administration, expand the protocol to include additional methods such as the firing squad and streamline internal processes to expedite death penalty cases.
