Pope Leo affirms support for banning death penalty, marks 15 years since Illinois ban

Pope Leo XIV emphasized his support for banning the death penalty in a video sent Friday to DePaul University students.

“We affirm that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed,” the pope said in a two-minute video.

The message was sent to mark 15 years since Illinois abolished the death penalty — and on the same day the Trump Administration announced a new death penalty push.

“Effective systems of detention can be and have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption,” Pope Leo said.

“This is why Pope Francis and my recent predecessors repeatedly insisted that the common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,” he continued. “Consequently, the church teaches that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

The video was played for about 250 DePaul students, faculty and staff at a celebration honoring the 15th anniversary of Illinois abolishing the death penalty. Former Gov. Pat Quinn, who in 2011 signed the legislation to ban capital punishment in Illinois, also attended.

Former Gov. George Ryan started the process to end the death penalty in Illinois in 2000, when he issued a moratorium on executions and said the system needed to be investigated.

Ryan emptied the state’s death row three years later by commuting the sentences of 167 death row inmates to life in prison and pardoning four inmates.

“I have had mixed emotions concerning this issue,” Ryan told the Sun-Times in 2003 after he commuted the sentences.

“I thought about it night and day. I finally came to the conclusion that this was the right decision and I'm going to have to live with it,” Ryan said. “Maybe [Saturday] morning I'll wake up and be uncomfortable with my decision. But I will live with it no matter what. I believe it's the right thing to do."

Twelve people, including mass murderer John Wayne Gacy, were executed by Illinois between the time it was re-imposed in 1977, and 1999. Ryan's moratorium took effect the next year.

Ryan, who died last year, later was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison for unrelated corruption charges.

His moratorium on the death penalty continued while two Illinois commissions studied the use of capital punishment for serious crimes.

When then-Gov. Quinn signed the legislation banning the death penalty, Illinois became the 16th state to do so. That legislation sat on his desk for weeks while Quinn pondered his decision and was lobbied by many people on both sides, including Cardinal Francis George, who urged him to sign it, the Sun-Times reported at the time.

In his Friday video, Pope Leo praised "the decision made by the governor of Illinois in 2011," to sign that legislation.

"I likewise offer my support to those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States of America and around the world," the pope continued. "I pray that your efforts will lead to a greater acknowledgment of the dignity of every person and will inspire others to work for the same just cause."

Also on Friday, the Trump Administration announced changes in death penalty policy, the Associated Press reported.

The Justice Department will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution, officials said Friday. The department also is reauthorizing the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital, which was used to carry out 13 executions during the first Trump administration — more than under any president in modern history. The Biden administration had removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering.