Leo XIV Gets It Wrong: "Catholics in Favor of Death Penalty Not Pro Life"
Pope Leo XIV harmed Catholic teaching on September 30, 2025 with a false statement, while speaking to journalists as he left Castel Gandolfo.
Leo XIV said: "Someone who says 'I’m against abortion', but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life.” He added: “Someone who says 'I’m against abortion', but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro life."
In reality, abortion is always and intrinsically wrong, whereas the death penalty and immigration restrictions are not.
Many Fathers and Teachers of the Church, as well as popes up to Benedict XVI, were crystal clear on this matter.
Pope Leo XIV also downplayed the controversy surrounding Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich's decision to honour pro-abortion Catholic U.S. Senator Richard Durbin.
"I am not terribly familiar with the particular case. I think it’s important to look at the overall work that a senator has done during their 40 years of service in the United …More
Viganò points out that Leo's response to the Durbin scandal demonstrates that the poisonous Marxist ideology of the homosexual Satanist Joseph Bernardin, with his ‘Seamless Garment’ continues to corrupt many within the Church.
John Paul II had already changed quite a bit, though not entirely. However, in his speeches he said that the death penalty is inhumane.
The complete change came with Francis in 2018 when he officially stated: "Therefore, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that 'the death penalty is inadmissible, because it violates the inviolability and dignity of the person,' and she resolutely commits to its abolition throughout the world."
This is fake, this is not Christian.
Lion follows Francis.
Another contradiction with faith and morals.
And why did Roberto Prevost, like Cupich and Bergoglio, overlook the inhumane cruelty of the death penalty promoted by this apostate senator, specifically through infanticide, also known as partial-birth abortion, which condemns an innocent child to death while still in his mother's womb?
Of course he's wrong. He's not wrong about abortion being evil. He's consistently wrong about almost everything else.
Cupich had provoked the Pope into an off-the-cuff comment that horrified many Catholics by appearing to support the Durbin award; really what Leo was trying to do was avoid humiliating Cupich, to whom he is regrettably close.
As the Vatican teaches: “When political activity comes up against moral principles that do not admit of exception… the Catholic commitment becomes more evident and laden with responsibility. … Such is the case with laws concerning abortion and euthanasia. … In these cases there is no latitude for differing opinions.”
Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the …