Pope Francis has declared that the death penalty is wrong in all cases, a definitive change in church teaching that is likely to challenge faithful Catholic politicians, judges and officials in the United States and other countries who have argued that their church was not entirely opposed to capital punishment.

Francis added the change to the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, the book of doctrine which is taught to Catholic children worldwide and studied by adults in a church with 1.2 billion members.

Francis said executions are unacceptable in all cases because they are “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” the Vatican announced on Thursday.

The church also says it will work “with determination” for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide.

Francis’ decision is likely to put many American Catholic politicians in a difficult position, especially Catholic governors, like Greg Abbott of Texas and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, who have presided over executions.

The move could also set off a backlash among American Catholic traditionalists who have already cast Francis as being dangerously inclined to change or compromise church teaching on other issues, like permitting communion for Catholics who have divorced and remarried without getting a church annulment.

What has it changed from?

The text of the catechism was first set by Pope John Paul II in October 1992, and earlier stated that the death penalty was “an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good”.

However, the new text says there is “an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes”.

It also argues that today’s more effective detention methods protect citizens and “do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption”.

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"Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good," the Vatican said.

"Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes."

Prior to the change, the Church was not opposed to capital punishment "if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor."

The change was enacted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican department responsible for defending Catholic teaching, and is contained in the universal catechism, a summary of the Church’s teaching on sexual, social and moral issues.

But it could face trenchant opposition from some Catholics, particularly conservatives in the US, who support the death penalty.

The Vatican said it would “work with determination” to help bring about an end to capital punishment in every country in the world.

Pope Francis, who often visits prisoners in jail on his trips abroad, has long been opposed to the death penalty, even for the worst crimes.

Last year he said that human life "is always sacred in the eyes of the creator."

He acknowledged that in past centuries the Papal States had used the death penalty, saying that was a mistake.

He argued that executing criminals was “cruel, inhumane and degrading” and that there was always the risk of “judicial errors” leading to innocent people being killed.

The change in Catholic doctrine builds on pronouncements made by Pope John Paul II, who repeatedly called for the death penalty to be abolished.

He said it was not justifiable “even for someone who has done great evil”. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, made similar appeals.

Pope Francis’s decision was welcomed by Amnesty International as an "important step forward."