The Pope’s opposition to the death penalty has now been enshrined in the Catechism. The Catholic Church officially holds that the death penalty attacks the dignity of all human beings.

Catechism No. 2267 now reads: “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.”

Details here.