Lebanon voted to abolish capital punishment this week, and will become the first Arab country to legally end the practice.

The majority of Parliament voted to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment and hard labor. Notably, the Hezbollah voting bloc voted against the measure.

A small Middle Eastern country – smaller than the U.S. state of Connecticut – Lebanon borders both Israel and Syria as well as the Mediterranean Sea. The armed group Hezbollah is currently involved in conflict with Israeli, with strikes occurring on the Lebanese-Israeli border and well into the territory.

Known as one of the most religiously diverse countries in the Middle East, the World Factbook reports that just over two thirds of the country practices various forms of Islam; around one third is Christian (with Maronite Catholics as the largest Christian group); and a small minority of Druze. 

Before this decision, Lebanon adhered to a de facto moratorium on executions since 2004. The abolishment of the death penalty this week formally ends capital punishment throughout the country.

According to Amnesty International, once the law takes effect, Lebanon will become the 114th country that has completely abolished the death penalty.

The United States remains one of the increasingly few number of countries to retain the death penalty. This week, three men were scheduled to be executed in the United States. Rehumanize International notes that there has “been a surge in executions since 2025,” with a substantial number occurring in Florida.  

As of the initial report in the Associated Press of the vote, no religious leaders in Lebanon have publicly responded to this decision.

The Catholic position on the death penalty has been much discussed in recent years, particularly with Pope Francis’ amendment to the Catechism in 2018, which states,

“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.”

While Catholic bishops in Lebanon have not spoken yet about this decision, the message of mercy and forgiveness is a familiar one out of Lebanon. At the Synod on Synodality Bishop Mounir Khairallah, Maronite Catholic Bishop of Batrun, whose own parents were brutally murdered when he was only five, said, “the Lord has never abandoned us; He has taken us, accompanied us, to live this forgiveness.”

Once Lebanese President Joseph Aoun promulgates the decision, it will become the law of the land. 

ECPM (Together against the death penalty), a group advocating for universal abolition of capital punishment, reports that at the end of last year, 84 people were currently being held on death row in Lebanon.

This movement towards abolition of the death penalty aligns with Pope Leo’s recent words, “We affirm that the dignity of the person is not lost even after various serious crimes are committed … Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this.”