Bishops condemn broadcast of firing squad execution, emphasize Church’s opposition to death penalty

U.S. bishops, including Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, continue to denounce plans to livestream the Dec. 3 execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.

In a joint statement with Broglio issued Oct. 12 by the Texas Catholic bishops, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of the Diocese of Austin said the public broadcast of Hasan’s execution “would make a spectacle of death.” He wrote that “True justice cannot be achieved through further violence or vengeance.”

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced Oct. 5 on X that President Donald Trump had approved the execution of Hasan, the Army psychiatrist convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting. On Oct. 8, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview with Real Americaʼs Voice that Hasanʼs execution would be livestreamed from Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, where Hasan killed 14 people, including an unborn baby, and wounded more than 30 others in the attack.

“The tragedy at Fort Hood has traumatized the loved ones of those killed, the survivors, and the entire military community,” Garcia, whose diocese encompasses Fort Hood, said. “Carrying out this execution at Fort Hood, especially as a public broadcast, will only exacerbate that trauma.”

Garcia asked Catholics to pray for military service members “called upon to participate in the execution.” In a letter issued the same day, Broglio went further, writing that he obliges “any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church.”

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

Archbishop Timothy Broglio

Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA

Broglio, who was received by Pope Leo XIV on Oct. 12, added that “it is my duty to express my disapproval of what is proposed regarding the execution of the terrorist Hasan in the Archdiocese entrusted to my spiritual care to be done by those for whose salvation I have been constituted as the Archbishop for the Military Services, USA,” pointing out the “moral injury … the members of the firing squad might experience.”

He also expressed his sympathy for the family and friends of the victims of Hasan’s attack, which he said “disregarded the dignity of the human person,” and reiterated the Church’s opposition to the death penalty, saying that it too offends human dignity.

Broglio called Hasan’s crime “heinous,” and asked if “exposing the public to his execution” would serve any purpose. “Will the exposure of a live-stream to the young and impressionable during the 250th anniversary year of our independence be able to be repaired?” Broglio asked.

He urged that the decision be reconsidered, and if not, for “the young and impressionable” to be protected from viewing the livestream of the execution.

He asked if Americans “really want to imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries?”

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, agreed. He also issued a statement on Oct. 12, calling the upcoming execution “performative barbarism.”

“Do we really want our children, who will inevitably view it, exposed to the pornography of a state-sponsored slaying?” he asked.

Cupich said a televised execution will not prevent future crimes and might even encourage the conferral of “martyrdom on the Fort Hood killer.”

He also said the livestreamed execution further “contributes to the characterization of our nation as a violent, vengeful place. Forgiveness bestows grace. Murder by the state is an insult to Our Lord who teaches that all life is sacred.”

Broglio concurred, asking “if there really is a value to throwing [the U.S. military] in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheel chair to the whole world? Does this decision reflect the dignity of the human person?”

Last week, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote in an Oct. 9 statement: “It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan.”

“Our God is the God of life,” Coakley said. “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.”

Citing Romans 12:17, which commands: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil,” Coakley continued: “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.”

“I pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel that we as a nation may always choose life even in the most trying times and circumstances.”

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/bishops-condemn-public-broadcast-of-hasan-execution-emphasize-church-s-opposition-to-death