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Pope Francis, The Death Penalty & The Radical Hope of Christ

Pope Francis, The Death Penalty & The Radical Hope of Christ

Last updated on: August 25, 2025 at 10:57 am by Jeff Hood

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Pope Francis, The Death Penalty & The Radical Hope of Christ 2025-08-25T10:57:35-06:00 Jeff Hood

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Pope Francis: The Death Penalty is No Longer Admissible

When Pope Francis announced in 2018 that the death penalty is “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2267), it was not a footnote in doctrine…it was a rupture. Centuries of Christian teaching carved out small spaces where executions could be tolerated. Francis slammed the door shut. He did so not because the world suddenly became gentler…but because the Gospel would not let Christians keep pretending that killing in the name of justice could ever be reconciled with following Christ.

The Proclamations of Pope Francis on the Death Penalty

From the beginning of his papacy, Francis pressed this point. Speaking to the International Association of Penal Law, he said that executions are “inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed.” When he stood before the United States Congress…a chamber in a country addicted to executions…he again pleaded for abolition. He firmly declared his opposition to the death penalty in a letter to the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, repeated himself during the Jubilee for Prisoners and in Fratelli Tutti gave his most developed teaching…declaring the death penalty to always be unacceptable…and that the time had come for worldwide abolition.

Theological Foundations: God’s Image & Human Dignity

The arguments Francis made were not technical…they were theological. Every human being… no matter what they’ve done…bears the image of God. That image cannot be erased by crime, violence or sin. To execute someone is not simply to punish…it is to deny that God’s image remains…it is to claim the state’s right to erase what only God has authored. Which is why Francis so clearly called the death penalty, “contrary to the Gospel.”

The Cross: Standing with the Executed Not the Executioners

Look again at the cross. Jesus was executed by the state…in the name of law and order. Roman authorities called it justice. Religious authorities called it necessary. But Christians call it salvation. To follow the Gospel is to side with the executed…not the executioners. Any defense of capital punishment makes peace with the very logic that killed Jesus.

Francis unmasked what executions really are…vengeance. They do not repair harm…they stage a ritual. The state sucks the life out of a person and calls the act righteous. But what is happening is a theater of evil. Executions are spectacles of domination. The condemned person is not killed for what they did so much as for what they represent…the inability of government to control its’ citizens.

Christian theology has always insisted that the Cross is an affront to power. Crucifixion revealed the emptiness of empire’s claim. Resurrection shattered it. To abolish the death penalty is not just to reform a legal system…it is to confess faith in the Resurrection…hope beyond the temporal constraints of existence. Indeed…if Christ is risen…then no executioner will ever be able to claim the last word.

The Church & Capital Punishment: Historic Complicity

And yet Francis’ stance cut deeper…because it forced the Church to confront its own betrayals. For centuries… Popes blessed kings who wielded the sword. Bishops and religious leaders cheered inquisitors who burned heretics. Priests stood silent as modern states carried out executions. Even into the twentieth century, most Christian teaching still allowed for executions, even the Catholic Catechism allowed for it in “rare” cases (CCC 2267… prior edition). To now declare the death penalty inadmissible is to admit that the Church itself had consistently been wrong…even complicit in crucifixion. The change was not cosmetic…it was penitential.

Pope Francis’ Critics Within the Church

Of course, critics howled that Francis had broken with tradition…or even, with what the Bible teaches. But what they failed to recognize was that…the cross had already decided the matter… there is no Christian way to execute someone. To defend capital punishment is to stand with Pilate and the crowd. To tolerate it is to wash one’s hands while the state kills another Christ (Matthew 25:36-40).

Make no mistake, belief in Christ has consequences. Francis made clear that the Church could not stay neutral in societies that kill. Bishops and other leaders who lobbied for executions placed themselves outside the Gospel. Christian politicians who signed death warrants, judges who sentenced people to die, prison staff who tightened straps on the condemned…all of them participate in the horrors of Golgotha. Abolition is not just a political option…it is discipleship.

The Fulfillment of Hope: Pope Francis’ Theology on Capital Punishment

Herein lies the urgency. To follow Pope Francis on the death penalty is not about obedience to the teachings of a hierarchy…it is about obedience to the Gospel itself. Francis did not invent a new doctrine…he simply named what the Cross had already revealed. The state murdered Jesus in the name of law and order…and every execution since then has been a repetition of the same lunacy. If we claim Christ crucified and risen, we cannot claim that the economy of God gives us the right to execute anyone…for the price of sin has already been paid.

Francis has died…but his teachings have not…and his absence sharpens their weight. Indeed…they remain a summons to hope. The Gospel he preached will never die. The world still kills…states still strap humans down in chambers of death…and the Church must still decide whether it stands with the executioner or with the executed.

Following Christ means refusing the logic of vengeance that dominates our politics. It means recognizing that the death penalty does not create safety…it creates more death. It means believing that even the most broken life still bears the mark of God. Abolition is not sentimentality…it’s discipleship.

Toward Conversion: The Call of Pope Francis

The Church has long compromised with the powers of death. Francis called us back…away from complicity and toward conversion. The choice before us is clear. We can cling to the murderous inclinations of capital punishment…or we can stand at the foot of the cross with the crucified Christ. The future of the Church…and the relevance of the Gospel in the modern world…depends on which side we choose.

We must carry on Francis’ fight. His death cannot mean the silencing of his teachings. If the Gospel has any meaning at all…then the only faithful path is abolition…anything less is betrayal.

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About The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a theologian, writer, and activist who has spent years ministering to people on death row. As a spiritual advisor and witness to executions, he speaks out against state violence and calls for a society rooted in justice, mercy, and the sacredness of life. You can read more about the author here.

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