There goes that doctrine of papal infallibility. Never mind church tradition. What about the inspired Scripture? Capital punishment is allowed there
It is obvious that this Pope has abused it.
This latest pronouncement by Francis is, fortunately, not an exercise of papal infallibilty in which, by definition, very specific conditions must be met. Basically, after consultation with the mass of bishops worldwide, he has to say something like, "I, as Pope, am now making an infallible pronouncement is is binding upon all the Church for all time."
An example of this is the language used in the promulgation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception:
"Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father through his Son, that He would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.""
Since it is not an infallible statement, it is not strictly binding on Catholics. Even if he succeeds in putting it in the Catechism (which itself is not an infallibly declared document), a future, more sane, wiser and non-heretical Pope can just as easily change it back.