United States Archbishop Timothy Broglio has urged Catholics who are members of the country’s armed forces not to take part in a planned public execution by firing squad, saying that it violates the teachings of the church.
Broglio released a strongly worded statement on Monday raising a series of concerns about the US military’s plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, a former army major who killed 13 people during a shooting attack at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.
“I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church,” Broglio said.
He also asked whether the US wants to “imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries”.
The plan to livestream the execution on December 3 was announced last week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who characterised the spectacle as deterrence.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth told the right-wing media outlet Real America’s Voice.
But the proposal has sparked backlash from lawmakers, rights groups and critics who warn that a publicly broadcast killing is not only unethical but could also be used as anti-US propaganda.
Hasan, now aged 56, was shot by the police during the 2009 Fort Hood attack and is now wheelchair-bound. Critics fear livestreaming Hasan’s death could turn him into a symbol for armed groups that may be hostile to the US.
Cardinal Blase J Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, also condemned the plan to livestream the execution in a social media post on Monday, questioning the example it could set for children.
“Capital punishment is unacceptable in any case,” he said. “The planned broadcast of the taking of a life by firing squad is nothing short of performative barbarism. Do we really want our children, who will inevitably view it, exposed to the pornography of a state-sponsored slaying?”
Hegseth has said he wants the execution to take place at the same time and location as the 2009 shooting spree, and described using military members to carry out the death penalty.
“It hadn’t been since World War II since we’ve done that,” Hegseth said of the firing squad. “Well, I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II, which was win.”
The last US military execution by firing squad was of Eddie Slovik, who was accused of desertion in 1945. He was the only US soldier to have such a sentence carried out for abandoning his post.
In Monday’s statement, Broglio also questioned the reasoning behind putting service members on camera to carry out Hasan’s death. He hinted that it could harm the US military’s image abroad.
“The US military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world,” Broglio wrote. “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 wheel chair to the whole world?”
Without mentioning Hasan’s case specifically, Pope Leo also released a statement on Saturday condemning the death penalty.
“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” he said in a social media post.
“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.”
President Donald Trump, who oversaw an unprecedented spike in federal executions during his first term in office, has approved Hasan’s execution.
Still, on Saturday, he indicated that he has not decided whether to proceed with a livestream.
“There are two thoughts: Don’t show it and show it. Because, you know, by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did,” Trump told reporters. “I’ll make a decision.”
Since the start of his second term as president, Trump has pushed for the increased use of the federal death penalty. In April, he also approved additional methods to carry out the death penalty, including the firing squad.
