US Army's Catholic archbishop urges soldiers not to take part in the firing squad execution.

Archbishop Timothy Broglie urged Catholic soldiers to refuse to carry out their assigned role in the planned firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan and called the live broadcast barbaric.

Deputy Vance questioned the live broadcast of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hassan's execution.

Catholics serving in the military should be exempted from participating in the planned firing squad of the alleged Fort Hood mass shooting that the Pentagon has offered to broadcast live, the top U.S. archbishop who oversees Catholic pastoral care for the military said Monday.

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

Hassan is scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood on December 3 at 1:00 p.m. The CST, according to the US military, makes him the first person to be executed by firing squad by the US military since 1945. It is also the first US military execution by any method since 1961. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he would target soldiers to target Hassan's execution site that day and execute Hassan at that time. Public executions can act 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 lamented the fatal shooting. But the archbishop questioned whether the US government wants to "imitate the terrorists of this world and publicly display the brutal slaughter of its enemies."

Pope Leo condemned the death penalty as "unacceptable" ahead of the Pentagon's planned execution

Hasan's crime was "heinous, but is there any purpose in exposing people to his execution?" Broglio asked in a statement.

He continued: "I charge every Catholic who is assigned to the firing squad to be exempted from this action against the teachings of the Church."

Army regulations allow soldiers to receive religious or accommodation exemptions.

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

"The U.S. military generally has a good reputation in the world," Broglio said. Is it really worth it to throw them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world?

An execution by the US government 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 Pentagon plans to broadcast executions live.

The president of the US bishops' conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, publicly expressed "shock" and "great regret" at the execution plan and called on the US to reconsider.

He said in a statement: "Hassan's actions cannot be ignored in any way, but this decision is a brutal promotion of the culture of death, and it should be reconsidered." Friday's statement, "Public execution of even someone who has caused serious harm, will only weaken the moral structure of our nation and harm the conscience of the people."

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin called the proposed broadcast "truly incomprehensible" and warned that it was "unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle".

"The position of the church is totally against the death penalty," Parolin told reporters on Friday. This position is incompatible with human dignity and has no stopping factor.

According to an English translation published by Vatican News, Parolin said: "It is really incomprehensible that someone would want to use this method in this day and age. I don't know for what purpose. It is certainly unacceptable to make a spectacle of death. However guilty the person is, there are other ways."

Parolin added that the death penalty is "incompatible with human dignity and does not act as a deterrent."

Pope Leo XIV declared the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty "unacceptable" in a social media post on Saturday to mark World Day Against the Death Penalty.

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

He added: "The death penalty is unacceptable because it is an attack on the immunity and dignity of the individual. The public interest can be preserved and the requirements of justice can be met without resorting to justice. Leo, the first American Pope, wrote in X without referring to the Hassan execution plan by the Pentagon: Death penalty: effective detention systems have been established that protect citizens and at the same time do not completely deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.

SURVIVOR says the Fort Hood shooter should run 13 more times — but not live

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had not yet decided whether to allow the live broadcast to go forward, although he reportedly expressed doubts in private about broadcasting the execution.

Vice President J. He said he wouldn't watch it if it was broadcast live.

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

"Public executions are what repressive dictators like Iran and Afghanistan do," Sen. Tom Tillis, R-N.C., said Thursday. This should not happen in America.

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