Bernadin's "pro-life" philosophy is new in Catholicism. Abortion is the murder of innocent life, whereas the death penalty is a legitimate punishment for the state to enforce.
Bernardin had a ton of education and no common sense, like most priests.
It's as simple as this: You don't kill babies and you don't baby killers.
There have been problems with capital punishment, like convicting innocent people. We should only execute those for whom guilt is indisputable, i.e., multiple-witnessed murders. For them, the appeals process needs to be shortened so that the sentence occurs much closer to the crime than at present.