(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV, in a video message to an event at DePaul University in Chicago last week, condemned the death penalty as “inadmissible.”

In an April 24 pre-recorded video address to a DePaul University event commemorating the 15th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois, Pope Leo repeated his predecessor Pope Francis’ position that the death penalty is “inadmissible” because it purportedly deprives a person of human dignity. Several Catholic theologians and writers have noted that the pontiff’s remarks contradict nearly 2,000 years of Church teaching.

THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE

The Church Cannot Contradict Herself. ‘Whosoever shall shed man’s blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God’ (Gen 9:6).

In his condemnation of the errors of Martin Luther, Pope Leo X – Leo XIV’s own namesake – infallibly condemned… pic.twitter.com/bDpJI12VlA

— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) April 27, 2026

“The Catholic Church has consistently taught that each human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is sacred and deserves to be protected,” the pontiff said. “Indeed, the right to life is the very foundation of every other human right. For this reason, only when a society safeguards the sanctity of human life will it flourish and prosper.”

Leo then stressed that human dignity is not lost even after a person commits “very serious crimes” and claimed that capital punishment is “inadmissible.”

“In this regard, we affirm that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed. Furthermore, 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,” the Pope 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. Consequently, the Church teaches that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person’,” he added.

Prominent Catholic figures have noted how Leo’s remarks contradict nearly 2,000 years of Church teaching.

In a blog post, LifeSite editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen noted that Pope Leo’s remarks contradict Sacred Scripture (Gen 9:6), the Catechism of the Council of Trent, as well as his namesake Pope Leo X’s 1520 papal bull against the errors of Martin Luther, Exsurge Domine, which condemned the idea that capital punishment is “against the will of the Spirit.”

READ: Leo XIV downplays sexual morality, ‘condemns’ the death penalty

Catholic philosopher Edward Feser, in a lengthy X post, further underscored that to say the death penalty is “intrinsically immoral” contradicts Sacred Scripture and Church teaching.

This whole debate is so stupid and tiresome. There are two unmovable facts that are not going to go away no matter how many times people repeat Pope Francis’s extreme statements on the subject: (1) the death penalty is not intrinsically immoral, and to teach otherwise would… https://t.co/Qmb6Do4KzU

— Edward Feser (@FeserEdward) April 26, 2026

Since his election in May 2025, Pope Leo has repeatedly denounced the death penalty. In one notable incident last fall, the American Pontiff, while apparently defending Cardinal Blase Cupich’s decision to honor pro-abortion Democratic Senator Richard Durbin with a lifetime achievement award, said that those who support the death penalty are “not really pro-life.”

READ: Pope Leo says support for death penalty is ‘not pro-life,’ defends awarding pro-abortion Durbin

“Someone who says I’m against abortion but says I’m in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life,” Leo said at the time.