The U.S. system of capital punishment operates behind closed doors and out of view of most Americans. Developments over the past year, however, have illuminated both the worst of capital punishment and the best of what the movement to end this system of death can achieve. As 2025 comes to a close, how should we make sense of the progress and the setbacks that have happened this year, and what do Catholics need to know about their role in defending the lives of those on death row?

Only one year ago, just before Christmas 2024, President Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row, reducing their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Catholics had been at the forefront of the campaign urging President Biden to use his constitutional authority to take this lifesaving action.

This act of mercy was particularly timely since it came during the Jubilee Year of 2025, which invokes a time to “proclaim liberty to captives” and let “the oppressed go free” (Is 61:1). It also meant that the incoming president would not be able to resume the unprecedented execution spree of the first Trump administration, which took the lives of 13 individuals in 2020-21. (The three men still remaining on federal death row have outstanding appeals that make executions in the next several years highly unlikely.)

But this historic and joyful start to 2025 met a swift rise in the rhetoric of vengeance.

On his first day back in office, President Trump released the executive order “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety.” Soon after, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memorandum supporting President Trump’s vision for capital punishment at the federal level. These early messages signaled what has continued throughout the year: strongly pro-death penalty rhetoric from the highest levels of government.

This rhetoric feeds on high-profile cases like the tragic murders of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson and the political activist Charlie Kirk, as well as the recent shooting of two members of the West Virginia National Guard, resulting in the death of Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom. Instead of toning down violent speech and calling for calm, this administration and its supporters have been quick to seek cruelty and vengeance.

In this climate, several states have developed new execution methods, like asphyxiation using nitrogen gas in Louisiana, and others have brought back older methods, like the firing squad in South Carolina. Others have increased the rate of executions. As of Dec. 10, a total of 11 states have carried out 46 executions this year, nearly double the number of executions in 2024. 

Florida, a dramatic outlier from the rest of the country, accounts for 18 of the executions this year, outpacing any previous year in state history and driving the 2025 national execution tally to its highest level in more than a decade. This spree has highlighted all that we know to be flawed about the death penalty. 

Florida has executed individuals against the expressed wishes of the victims’ families and taken the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and histories of trauma and abuse. The state has illuminated the racial injustice of capital punishment, executing a Black man sentenced by an all-white jury. It has also taken the lives of individuals whose juries did not unanimously agree to their sentence—something that is legally permitted in only Florida and Alabama.

There is no sugarcoating it: These executions have been devastating. But the increased rate of executions does not represent where American society stands on this issue. In fact, it is wildly out of step. 

Gallup’s November 2025 annual crime survey affirms that the death penalty for murder cases continues to fall out of favor with the American public, reaching the lowest recorded public support since 1972 at 52 percent. (In 1994, support was at a high of 80 percent.) Public sentiment is shifting, and new death sentences remain at historic lows. 

Ending this death-dealing practice is possible. A few cases that have received significant attention this year serve as clear reminders that this is true.

In Texas, the execution of Robert Roberson in October was called off by the state Court of Criminal Appeals, remanding his case to the lower courts for renewed consideration. Mr. Roberson was sentenced to death for the tragic death of his 2-year-old daughter under the now-discredited theory known as “shaken baby syndrome.”

In Oklahoma, Tremane Wood received clemency from Gov. Kevin Stitt just minutes before his scheduled execution for his role in a murder that he did not commit himself. This saved Mr. Tremane’s life and reduced his sentence to the equivalent of his co-defendant’s: life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

These recent successes in active death penalty states highlight the power of collective advocacy and confirm why it is essential that Catholics act in the face of an immoral system that pursues death even in the face of significant concerns—including the possibility of innocence. The revenge rhetoric of capital punishment is contrary to our Christian beliefs and comes at great cost, paid in real lives. In the currency of cruelty, human dignity gets shortchanged. 

At the onset of Respect Life Month in October, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that defending human dignity requires consistency across the spectrum of life issues. As he told reporters in Italy, “Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion’ but says, ‘I’m in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life.” Pope Francis was a visionary leader and one of the most persuasive champions in the campaign to end the death penalty. It is encouraging to see that Pope Leo XIV carries on that commitment to death penalty opposition and sees the issue squarely on the continuum of life issues.

So what is ours to do? How are we called to defend the sanctity of life? How do you and I advance death penalty abolition and decrease the disconnect between public opinion and the government’s insistence on vengeance?

First, from the pews to the pulpits, from our neighborhoods to our state legislatures, capital punishment cannot be ignored. As Catholics, we are called specifically to the work of death penalty abolition in the Catechism, which was revised in 2018 to state: 

The Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide. [No. 2267]

In the face of a rhetoric of revenge, we can decide how to respond. We have the ability to choose restoration over retribution, accompaniment over abandonment, and healing over harm. We have the ability to choose life over death.

Second, if there is one thing this Jubilee Year has reminded us, it’s that we need to be renewed in hope, especially as challenges arise. On Dec. 14, we celebrate the Jubilee Day of Prisoners, the final “Jubilee Day” of the yearlong celebration. Closing out this Jubilee Year with a focus on those who are incarcerated is a powerful reminder that hope is not lost for anyone. Anyone.

This progress and setbacks of this year have confirmed that the road to ending the death penalty is winding. Perhaps one blessing from this Jubilee Year of Hope is the way it has illuminated vengeance’s empty promises.

Through hope we will move forward, because, as St. Paul said, “Hope does not disappoint.”

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy is the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network. She is the co-author of Advocating for Justice: An Evangelical Vision for Transforming Systems and Structures.