Death penalty declared inadmissable in the Catholic Catechism.

[Jake Stern]

2. Prior to this it was church doctrine that the death penalty was allowed in some circumstances

That wiggle room allowed Catholic politicians and judges to impose the death penalty while claiming to remain "faithful to church teachings".

This change by Pope Francis says that the church is against the death penalty in ALL situations, closing that loophole.

Conservative Catholics are already soiling their drawers over this. For decades they've sanctimoniously tut-tutted Pro-Choice Catholics as being in rebellion against the church but now they can no longer openly support state sanctioned murder without also being in rebellion against church doctrine.