‘Culture of death’: Florida bishops urge Catholics to work to end the death penalty
Florida Catholic bishops released a letter urging Catholics to oppose the death penalty, calling it a "culture of death" incompatible with Catholic teachings. The bishops cited Church teachings, including Pope John Paul II’s *Evangelium Vitae*, and emphasized that modern penal systems make the death penalty unnecessary. The letter came amid Florida’s high execution rate—10 inmates executed in 2026 so far, with a double execution scheduled for July 28, and a total of 19 executions in 2025 statewide. While condemning capital punishment, the bishops acknowledged the gravity of violent crimes and expressed compassion for victims’ families, urging both Catholics and the wider community to work toward abolition.
2 months ago
Florida’s Catholic bishops have issued a pastoral letter urging all Floridians, especially Catholics, to work toward abolishing the death penalty, calling the practice a “culture of death” that conflicts with the Church’s full teaching on the value of human life. 1 2
Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025 and has already executed 10 inmates in 2026, with a rare double execution scheduled for July 28, 2026. 1
Eight prelates—including Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami and Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez of Palm Beach—released a letter urging Catholics to reconsider capital punishment in light of Church teaching and moral authority. 1 2
The bishops reminded the faithful that the Church opposes the death penalty when “bloodless means are sufficient” to protect public safety, citing Jesus’ call for mercy toward sinners. They acknowledged that Scripture contains passages that appear to condone capital punishment but argued that the “fullest development of God’s revelation” points away from it. 1
They referenced Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae, which states that modern secure penal systems make the death penalty “very rare, if not practically nonexistent,” reinforcing the Church’s shift away from endorsing executions. 2
While condemning the crimes, the bishops expressed “deep sympathy and compassion” for families of murder victims, affirming that justice does not require “another act of killing.” 1
Data from the Death Penalty Information Center show a decline in new death sentences in 2025 (22 versus 24 the previous year) and fewer unanimous jury verdicts. A 2025 Gallup poll recorded the lowest support for the death penalty in 50 years—52 % in favor, 44 % opposed. 1 2
The bishops pledged to continue advocating for abolition and urged both Catholics and “fellow citizens of goodwill” to join efforts to end capital punishment in Florida. 1 2
Catholic doctrine mandates abolition of the death penalty
Catholic teaching has developed from a doctrine that allowed the death penalty in very limited circumstances to a doctrine that now judges the death penalty inadmissible on moral grounds and presses for worldwide abolition.
The claim “Catholic doctrine mandates abolition of the death penalty” can be understood in two different ways:
Recent Magisterium texts clearly move to the first point (moral inadmissibility). They also strongly support the second point by stating the Church is “firmly committed” to calling for abolition worldwide.
In Evangelium Vitae, St. John Paul II teaches that the death penalty must not be used beyond what is necessary for legitimate purposes of penal justice. He writes that authorities “ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity,” meaning “when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society,” and he adds that “today however… such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church restates this classical framework: traditional teaching does not exclude the death penalty “when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor,” while also stressing that cases of “absolutely necessary” execution are “very rare, if not practically non-existent.” It further states that “bloodless methods… are preferred.”
Earlier teaching does not present the death penalty as always forbidden in every case; rather, it is restricted to a narrow “only if absolutely necessary / only practicable” rationale.
In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis states:
This is more than a prudential argument. It is a moral judgment (“inadmissible”) paired with a definitive pastoral/advocacy commitment (“firmly committed… abolition worldwide”).
A Letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (2018) explains the doctrinal change connected with revising Catechism paragraph 2267. It explicitly notes Pope Francis’s reaffirmation that “today capital punishment is unacceptable, however serious the condemned’s crime may have been,” adding reasons that include:
This ties the Church’s current stance to the dignity/inviolability of the person, not merely to the practical rarity of cases where alternatives are unavailable.
Pope Francis also states that the certainty “every life is sacred” and “human dignity must be safeguarded without exception” has led him to work for “universal abolition of the death penalty,” and he says the Church could not “maintain a neutral stance” in the face of reaffirmed personal dignity.
From the texts above, you can state confidently:
The sources do not frame this as a mere “campaign topic” or purely empirical policy debate. However, “mandates abolition” can sound like a legal-penal obligation imposed directly on every state in a single moment. What the Magisterium texts explicitly assert is:
Given that moral inadmissibility is asserted even “however serious the crime,” the moral implication is that civil authority should not impose it; the Church’s stance is therefore effectively abolition-oriented.
A key misunderstanding is to treat the older teaching (which limited capital punishment) as if the Church’s newer “inadmissible” teaching were just the same theory with updated statistics.
One of the provided sources explains that even Pope St. John Paul II did not argue that capital punishment is “in itself… gravely immoral” in the way abortion/euthanasia are (a claim associated with “malum in se”), but rather argued that its legitimate use should be prudent and justified and that in modern conditions it becomes “very rare” or “practically non-existent.”
By contrast, the later Magisterium described above states the death penalty is “inadmissible” in light of dignity and includes reasons like cruel treatment, flawed selectivity, and judicial error—making the current teaching meaningfully different in moral emphasis and categorical character.
USCCB materials interpret the Church’s teaching in terms of active non-support and societal engagement. For example, the USCCB notes:
This aligns with Pope Francis’s “firmly committed” call for abolition worldwide.
Catholic doctrine does not merely express discomfort with capital punishment; it now teaches that the death penalty is inadmissible on moral grounds and that the Church is firmly committed to calling for its abolition worldwide.