Pope hits out at Donald Trump as soon as once more over plans for firing squad executions
The Trump administration has revealed plans for firing squad executions as it expands the federal death penalty in the US – Pope Leo appears to have responded
Trump’s administration has revealed plans for firing squad executions(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Pope Leo appears to have hit out at Donald Trump once again as the president’s administration revealed plans to expand the federal death penalty in the US – including the use of firing squads.
The US Department of Justice announced the plans earlier today, setting out the legal argument for various methods of execution.
“Today, the Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences – clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals,” it said.
The DoJ said it plans on “readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump Administration”, which “relies on pentobarbital as the lethal agent”, as well as “expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad”.
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The Pope took to X this evening and appeared to hit back at the plans. He said the Catholic Church teaches “that each human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is sacred and deserves to be protected”.
He went on: “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.
“I pray that your efforts will lead to a greater acknowledgement of the dignity of every person, and will inspire others to work for the same just cause.”
The DoJ also said that it was “streamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases” and had “rescinded” the Biden-era moratorium on federal executions, authorising “seeking death sentences against 44 defendants”.
The statement added that acting US attorney general Todd Blanche had “already authorized seeking death sentence against nine of these defendants”.
Donald Trump signed an executive order last January, shortly after taking office, vowing to pursue federal death sentences and directing the attorney general to make sure states had enough lethal injection drugs.
