Archbishop tells Catholic soldiers not to take part in military execution

Catholics serving in the Army should request to be excused from participating in the planned firing squad execution of a convicted Fort Hood mass shooter, which the Pentagon has proposed livestreaming, a prominent U.S. archbishop who oversees Catholic pastoral services for the military said on Monday.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio raised several objections to the Pentagon’s unprecedented plan to broadcast the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base. Hasan, now 56, uses a wheelchair, after being shot by responding officers during the attack.

Hasan is set to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, at 1 p.m. CST, according to the U.S. Army, which would make him the first person to be executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since 1945. It would also mark the first U.S. military execution by any method since 1961. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he wanted soldiers to execute Hasan at the time, day of the week and location of the shooting and has argued that making the execution public would help serve as a deterrent.

Broglio recalled presiding over the funeral of one of Hasan’s victims, Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in that attack, and expressed sorrow over the deadly shooting. But the archbishop questioned whether the U.S. government wanted to “imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries.”

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Hasan’s crime “was heinous, but does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?” Broglio asked in a statement.

“I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church,” he continued.

Army regulations permit soldiers to seek religious exemptions or accommodations.

It is unclear how the military intends to select members for the firing squad.

“The U.S. military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world,” Broglio said. “Is there really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world?”

A U.S. government execution has never been broadcast to the public, making it an unprecedented plan that has drawn backlash from political and religious leaders. 

Broglio joins other Catholic leaders in criticizing the Pentagon’s plans to livestream the execution.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan is set to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, which would make him the first person to be executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since 1945. (REUTERS/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Handout)

The head of the U.S. bishops conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed “shock” and “great sorrow” about the public execution plan and urged the U.S. to reconsider.

“In no way can Hasan’s actions 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. “The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.”

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, called the proposed broadcast “truly incomprehensible” and warned that it was “unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.”

“The Church’s position is one of total opposition to the death penalty; it is incompatible with human dignity and serves as no deterrent,” Parolin told reporters on Friday. 

According to the English translation published by Vatican News, Parolin said, “It is truly incomprehensible that anyone would want to use this method in this day and age. I do not know for what purpose. It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle. However guilty the person may be, 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 the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty as “inadmissible” in a social media post on Saturday marking World Day Against the Death Penalty. 

Citing Catholic doctrine revised under his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo emphasized that the death penalty violates human dignity.

“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption,” Leo, the first American pope, wrote on X without specifically mentioning the Pentagon’s execution plan for Hasan.

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A U.S. government execution has never been broadcast to the general public, making it an unprecedented plan that has drawn backlash from political and religious leaders. (Aaron Schwartz / AFP via Getty Images)

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President Donald Trump said Saturday he had not yet decided whether to allow the livestream plan to move forward, although he has reportedly expressed doubts in private about broadcasting the execution.

Vice President JD Vance, who is a Catholic, expressed skepticism about whether the Pentagon would proceed with a public execution. He said he would not watch the livestream if it were carried out.

Several lawmakers, including Republicans, have spoken out against plans to broadcast the execution.

“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said on Thursday. “It should not be happening in America.”

Reuters contributed to this report.