Pope Condemns Death Penalty Amid Direct Reactions to Executions in US
Pope Leo XIV condemned the death penalty amid US plans to broadcast live the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan.
Pope Leo has condemned the death penalty as an attack on human dignity amid growing criticism of the US military's plans to broadcast live the execution of the accused Fort Hood shooter.
US Secretary of War Pete Heggeth announced last week that Nidal Malik Hassan will face a military firing squad on December 3. President Donald Trump has confirmed that he personally authorized the broadcast.
Writing on X on Saturday on World Day Against the Death Penalty, Leo criticized the death penalty as a concept, but did not name Hassan or the livestream directly.
"The death penalty is unacceptable because it is an attack on the immunity and dignity of the individual," the Pope wrote, adding: "The public interest can be preserved and the requirements of justice can be fulfilled without resorting to the death penalty." Leo argued that effective detention protects citizens without denying criminals the possibility of redemption.
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His statement shows the definite opposition of the Catholic Church to the death penalty. The previous Pope, Francis, amended the Vatican's official teaching in 2018 to declare the death penalty unacceptable.
Senior Catholic officials also explicitly condemned Friday's planned broadcast. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, called it unacceptable to turn death into death. Spectator" and added that "no matter how guilty a person is, there are other ways."
Archbishop Paul Coakley, head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, also described the decision as a "brutal promotion of the culture of death" and called on Washington to reconsider.
Hassan, a former US Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood in November 2009. A military court sentenced him to death in 2013.
Hexett has defended public viewing of executions, arguing that "people need to understand that there are serious consequences for this sort of thing".
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The death penalty is still used in the United States, and its methods vary by jurisdiction. Firing squads are allowed in Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah, although the practice is rarely used.
If Hassan is executed, it will be the first US military execution since 1961 and the first by firing squad since 1945. Its live broadcast to the public will be unprecedented.
The controversy also follows a botched fatal injection attempt in Tennessee, where death row inmate Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital and was hospitalized last month. He was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of his classmate Colin Slmer.