U.S. Bishops Express Concern Over Revival of Federal Death Penalty

The last time the federal government executed someone was in 2003 -- 16 years ago. On Friday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced that five federal death-row inmates would be executed by lethal injection within the next six months. 

In a statement reacting to Mr. Barr's decision, Bishop Frank Dewane of Florida, Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said the Catholic Bishops of the United States are "deeply concerned" by the move and urge the Trump Administration to reconsider.

In 2015, Pope Francis called for the global abolition of the death penalty and in 2018 made a formal change to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, declaring the death penalty to be "inadmissible" and describing it as "an attack on the inviolability and the dignity of the person." In his statement, Bishop Dewane noted the Catholic Bishops of the U.S. voted to update the Catechism for use by adults to reflect this position. He added that this is consistent with the USCCB's call for an end to the death penalty for the last four decades.