Pope Leo XIV has renewed the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty as controversy grows in the United States over plans to execute former US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad. Vice-President JD Vance, who has defended the seriousness of Hasan’s crimes, says he will not watch the execution if it is broadcast live.
Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, is expected to be executed in December under a plan announced by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Pentagon has said the execution will be livestreamed, with 3 December identified as the likely date.
The proposed execution has drawn criticism from religious leaders and prompted questions about the decision to broadcast a military execution publicly. The debate has focused not only on Hasan’s crimes and punishment, but also on whether an execution should be presented as a public spectacle.
On Saturday, 10 October, Pope Leo marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty by declaring capital punishment “inadmissible”. In a post on his official X account, @Pontifex, the US-born pontiff referred to the Catholic Church’s teaching that the death penalty violates the inherent dignity of every human being.
“The common good can be safeguarded and the demands of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,” the Pope wrote. He added that effective detention systems could protect the public while preserving the possibility of redemption for people convicted of serious crimes.
Leo did not mention Hasan or the planned execution directly. However, his statement came hours after Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state and one of the Pope’s senior aides, criticised the plan. Parolin described the proposed public execution as “unacceptable” and objected to the idea of turning a person’s death into a spectacle.
The Church’s position reflects a change formalised by Pope Francis in 2018, when he revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church to state that the death penalty is inadmissible in all cases because it attacks human dignity. Earlier teaching had allowed for the possibility of capital punishment in limited circumstances, including when it was considered the only effective way to protect human lives from an unjust aggressor.
Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, has also called for the Pentagon to reconsider its plan. In a statement issued on Friday, he expressed “shock” and “great sorrow” over the decision.
“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,” Coakley said. He warned that publicly executing even people responsible for grave crimes could damage the country’s moral standing and leave a lasting mark on the public conscience.
Vance has not called for Hasan’s execution to be cancelled, but he has said he will not watch the planned broadcast. He has also questioned whether the Pentagon’s proposal to livestream the execution will ultimately proceed.
The vice-president argued that the debate over the firing squad risks drawing attention away from the scale of the crimes Hasan committed. He described the Fort Hood attack as, in his view, the worst terrorist attack on US soil since the 11 September attacks.
Vance said Hasan had targeted soldiers who were supposed to receive his medical care, striking them at a point when they were particularly vulnerable. He urged the public not to lose sight of the victims while debating the method of execution.
“Whatever controversy there is over the method of execution, I hope people do not forget that this is a man who brutally murdered many innocent people,” Vance said.
President Donald Trump has consistently supported capital punishment. According to the original report, 30 executions had been carried out in the United States during the first nine months of 2026. The Pentagon said on Monday that Trump had approved Hasan’s execution.
The planned firing squad execution has therefore become the focus of a broader debate over capital punishment, the role of public broadcasting in executions and the limits of punishment in a justice system. While Catholic leaders have called for the decision to be reconsidered, Vance has emphasised Hasan’s crimes and the need to keep the victims in public view, even as he distances himself from watching the execution live.
