Pope Leo has revealed his thoughts on whether the death penalty should be legal after posting his public reflections online.
In recent weeks, the controversy surrounding the legal death process in US prisons has reached boiling point.
Namely, it came after the failed execution of Christa Pike on September 30, which saw her survive two doses of the lethal injection.
Her current status, per her attorneys, Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen of Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, and Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason of the Tennessee Office of the Post Conviction Defender, she has been discharged from hospital following the shock event.
She has since been confirmed to be at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center after suffering from what they say are severe injuries to the injection site.
In a statement on X, Pope Leo XIV, spoke out against the use of the death penalty on October 10 – which happens to be the 24th World Day Against the Death Penalty, which is observed every year.
The Pope wrote of his opposition to executions: “The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”
He explained: “The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption. #NoDeathPenalty”.
The World Day Against the Death Penalty is when the global abolitionist movement ‘encourages and consolidates the political and general awareness of the worldwide movement against the death penalty,’ and it looks like the Pope has made his views on the matter clear.
In the US, the death penalty has been used in its justice system since 1608, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which names Captain George Kendall as ‘the first recorded execution in the new colonies’.
From there, the laws began to come to fruition, and soon, they were opposed by those who disagreed with the use of capital punishments.
However, it’s not the pope’s first time addressing his views on the death penalty as a discussion on Reddit showed the moment he said shows how a person isn’t ‘pro-life’.
Speaking with a reporter, he said: "Someone who says 'I'm against abortion' but says 'I'm in favor of the death penalty' is not really pro-life.”
He added another example to his conclusion when he added: “Someone who says that 'I'm against abortion but I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,' I don't know if that's pro-life."
Instead, he asked that people be kinder to one another and to ‘find the way forward’ on those type of ‘ethical issues’.
Now, that doesn’t mean everyone was happy with the pope’s X post, because some were downright upset.
One person wrote: “It's almost like you've never read the Bible at all.”
Another said: “Nobody asked for your opinion.”
However, he also had many supporters on his side, with a user commenting: “The death penalty becomes even more reprehensible when authorities seek to livestream them as public entertainment.”
Stephen Colbert calls out Trump's attack on Pope Leo with 'scary' Hitler comparison
One person who is calling out Donald Trump after he lashed out at Pope Leo is Stephen Colbert, who made a shocking comparison.
The President took to social media this week to post a shocking tirade about Pope Leo XIV, leaving many people in shock - including the late night TV host.
The head of the Catholic Church publicly opposed the war in Iran as well as Trump’s policy.
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This didn’t go over well with Trump, who used his online platform Truth Social to issue a very blunt, and very lengthy, response.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy … I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.”
The post caused widespread disbelief, and now Colbert has entered the chat.
“According to one Italian religious historian, not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the Pope so directly and publicly,” Colbert declared, during his April 13 episode.
“It’s never great when someone says, ‘You should really be more discreet and respectful. You know, like Hitler.’”
Colbert regularly critiques Trump during their monologues, and Trump is no fan of Colbert.
The POTUS unleashed a rant about Colbert on his Truth Social app last year after it emerged that The Late Show had been cancelled.
Pope Leo, the first US-born pontiff, responded to Trump’s post on Monday, saying he had ‘no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly’.
He said: "I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems," the pontiff told reporters on a flight to Algiers.
"Too many people are suffering in the world today," he said. "Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there's a better way."
In February, the US and Israel launched a series of air strikes on Iran in what has been dubbed ‘Operation Epic Fury’.
Escalating tensions have also centred on the Strait of Hormuz, where maritime traffic was severely disrupted by Iran.
On April 8, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Iran had rejected the draft proposal for a 45-day to-phased ceasefire framework and instead proposed its own 10-point plan for a peace agreement.
Now, the US is blockading maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil exports.
Topics: Donald Trump, Pope Leo, US News, Film and TV, Celebrity
JD Vance heckled mid-speech after issuing warning to Pope Leo as he weighs in on Trump feud
JD Vance found himself pulled into yet another flashpoint over the war in Iran while speaking at a Turning Point USA event in Georgia, where the vice president was already addressing rising tensions around the conflict and the growing fallout from criticism aimed at the White House.
Pope Leo has repeatedly condemned the violence, previously saying God ‘does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them’, while also citing the passage: “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood”.
He also told a prayer vigil at St Peter’s Basilica: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”
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That criticism has not gone down well with Donald Trump or his allies, and midway through Vance’s recent appearance, things boiled over, as the US’ Vice President was heckled by a member of the audience while speaking about the Pope and the wider row now brewing between Leo and Trump.
Vance had been responding to the Pope’s stance on Iran when he said: "I think it’s very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
He then briefly paused to deal with the disruption from the 'random dude' in the crowd, telling him to stop screaming while he's in the middle of answering a question, before continuing.
The vice president reportedly said he respected the Pope’s role as a voice for peace, but pushed back on the suggestion that war could never be justified, pointing to historical examples including the defeat of Nazi Germany.
The exchange adds another layer to the increasingly public spat between Trump’s camp and the Vatican after Pope Leo condemned the war as ‘absurd and inhuman’.
Trump had already launched his own attack on the pontiff days earlier, writing on Truth Social: “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
He added: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
The president also wrote: “And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.”
In another recent statement on the Iran conflict, Trump wrote: “The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Vance has also struck a hard line on negotiations, saying: “if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand”.
He then added: “If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Topics: JD Vance, Donald Trump, Pope Leo, Iran
Trump slams 'weak' Pope Leo in scathing post after criticism on Iran war
Donald Trump has made scathing remarks about Pope Leo following his public condemnation of the war in Iran.
The war between Iran, Israel, and the US had been waging on weeks until the recent two-week ceasefire was agreed upon.
During this time, America hopes to reach a peace agreement with Iran – a key part of which will have the country drop its plans to gain access to nuclear warfare.
However, as Iran-US peace talks in Pakistan failed to reach a deal over the weekend, Trump said the US would begin 'BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz'.
Many people have condemned the war between the three countries, which was kickstarted by the US and Israel in a joint attack on Iran on February 28 that resulted in the assassination of its leader, Ali Khamenei.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, for example, has refused to get involved in the conflict and told British citizens that it's 'not our war'.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo has previously said that God 'does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them'.
He has also referenced an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, saying that 'even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood'.
During a prayer vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday (April 11), Pope Leo appeared to allude to conflict as he said: "Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!"
While the pope has never called out the president directly, Trump has now issued a scathing statement about the world's first American pope.
"Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday night (April 12).
"I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country," he continued.
"And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History."
The POTUS also suggested in the post that Leo only got his position 'because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump'.
He claimed: "If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.
"Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!"
UNILAD has reached out to the Vatican for comment.
Topics: Donald Trump, Pope Leo, Truth Social, World News
Mother of Christa Pike's victim speaks with heartbreaking statement ahead of her execution
The mom of the teenager murdered by Christa Pike has spoken out as she prepares to witness her daughter's killer's execution.
Pike is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Tennessee today (September 30) after spending over three decades on death row.
The 50-year-old was sentenced to death in March 1996 for the premeditated torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
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