The Vatican formally abolished the death penalty from its constitution in 2001.

The Vatican formally abolished the death penalty from its constitution in 2001.
The revised Vatican constitution that took effect on February 22, 2001 removed the death penalty from the text of the Fundamental Law, equivalent to a constitution, which dates back to the 1929 creation of the modern Vatican city-state. Pope John Paul II approved the new law for the abolition of the death penalty in November 2000.
Vatican use of the death penalty persisted into the 19th century, with hangings under Pope Pius IX, but no execution was carried out since the establishment of the modern state in 1929. Capital punishment was banned within the walls of the Vatican by Pope Paul VI in 1967. Under Pope John Paul II, the Vatican is strongly anti-death penalty.