The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to halt federal executions set to resume this month for the first time in 17 years.

“Now that the Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeals of four federal death row inmates, and the Justice Department has set new execution dates beginning July 13, I reiterate the call made last July for the administration to reverse course,” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City said in a statement. “As articulated to the Supreme Court in another case earlier this year, the bishops have been calling for an end to the death penalty for decades.”

Opposing the death penalty “is not to be soft on crime,” Coakley said. “Rather, it is to be strong on the dignity of life. To this end, I implore Attorney General (William) Barr and President Trump to abandon this path to preside over the first federal executions in 17 years.”