A prominent U.S. archbishop who oversees Catholic chaplaincy in the military said Monday that Catholics serving in the military should request exemption from participating in the planned firing squad execution of a convicted Fort Hood mass shooter that the Pentagon has proposed livestreaming.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio has raised multiple objections to the Pentagon’s unprecedented plan to broadcast the execution of Nidal Malik Hassan. Nidal Malik Hassan is a former Army psychiatrist who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood.
Hassan, 56, has been in a wheelchair since he was shot by responding police officers during the attack.
According to the U.S. Army, Hassan will be executed at 1 p.m. (Central Standard Time) on December 3 at Fort Hood, which would make him the first person to be executed by a U.S. firing squad since 1945. It also marked the first execution by any means by the U.S. military since 1961.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he wanted soldiers to execute Hassan at the time, day of the week and location of the shooting, arguing that a public execution would help serve as a deterrent.
Broglio recalled presiding over the funeral of one of Hassan’s victims, Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in that attack, and expressed condolences over the fatal shooting.
But the archbishop questioned whether the US government wants to “imitate the terrorists of this world and publicly display scenes of brutal killing of our opponents”.
Hassan’s crime “is heinous, but does having the public witness his execution serve any purpose?” Broglio asked in the statement.
“I ask all Catholics assigned to firing squads to ask for forgiveness for this action, which violates the teachings of the Church,” he continued.
Army regulations allow soldiers to seek religious exemptions or accommodations.
It’s unclear how the military plans to select members for the firing squads.
“The U.S. military generally enjoys a good reputation around the world,” Broglio said. “Is there really any value in putting people in the same boat as terrorists by showing the world the execution of a man in a wheelchair?”
The U.S. government’s executions have never been made public, making it an unprecedented plan that sparked fierce opposition from political and religious leaders.
Broglio joined other Catholic leaders in criticizing the Pentagon’s plan to livestream executions.
Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, expressed “shock” and “great sadness” at the planned public executions and urged the United States to reconsider.
“Hassan’s actions can never be condoned, but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered,” he said in a statement on Friday. “Even the public execution of a man who has caused serious harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our country and damage the conscience of the people.”
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin called the proposed broadcast “truly incomprehensible” and warned that “it is unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.”
“The position of the Church is completely against the death penalty; it is incompatible with human dignity and does not serve as a deterrent,” Parolin told reporters on Friday.
“It is incomprehensible that in this day and age someone would want to use this method,” Parolin said, according to an English translation published by Vatican News.
I don’t know for what purpose. Turning death into a spectacle is certainly unacceptable. No matter how guilty the person is, there are other ways. “
Parolin added that the death penalty “is incompatible with human dignity and does not serve as a deterrent.”
Pope Leo XIV reiterated that the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty is “unacceptable” in a social media post marking World Day against the Death Penalty on Saturday.
Citing Catholic doctrine revised by his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo emphasized that the death penalty violates human dignity.
“The death penalty is unacceptable because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the human person. The public interest can be safeguarded and the demands of justice can be met without resorting to the death penalty: an effective system of detention is in place that protects citizens without completely depriving those guilty of the possibility of redemption,” Leo, the first American pope, wrote on X, without specifically mentioning the Pentagon’s planned execution of Hassan.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had not yet decided whether to allow live-streaming plans to move forward, despite reports that he privately expressed doubts about live-streaming executions.
Vice President J.D. Vance, a Catholic, expressed doubts that the Pentagon would continue public executions. He said he would not watch it if it were live streamed.
Several lawmakers, including Republicans, have spoken out against plans to broadcast executions.
“Public executions are a practice practiced by repressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis said Thursday. “This should not happen in America.”
Reuters contributed to this report.