US Archbishop ‘obliges’ Catholics to request to be excused from firing squad

By Christopher Wells

The Archbishop for the Military Services USA, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, has issued a statement obliging “any Catholics assigned to the firing squad” for the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan “to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church.”

Mr. Hasan was condemned to death by a military court for the premeditated murder of 13 people and the attempted premeditated murder of 32 more in a mass shooting at Fort Hood in the US state of Texas.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump approved his execution by firing squad. Subsequently, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the execution would be livestreamed.

Widespread condemnation

The decision to broadcast the execution prompted widespread condemnation. In response to the announcement, the President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed the Bishops’ “shock and great sorrow” at the news. While insisting that Mr. Hasan’s actions can “in no way… be condoned,” Archbishop Coakley said, “this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin also denounced the plan to livestream Mr. Hasan’s execution, saying, “It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle. However guilty the person may be, there are other ways.”

Pope Leo has often condemned the use of the death penalty, a position he reiterated in a post on X a day after the US government’s announcement.

“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” the Pope wrote on the World Day Against the Death Penalty. “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. #NoDeathPenalty”

‘The dignity of the human person is at stake’

In a statement issued on October 12, Archbishop Broglio said, “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”.

Describing Mr. Hasan’s crimes as “an attack on the dignity of the human person,” Archbishop Broglio expressed once again his sympathy for the family and friends of the victims.

He went on to repeat the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty, arguing that here, too, “the dignity of the human person is at stake.”

Speaking directly to the US government’s intention to livestream the execution, the Archbishop asked, “Do we really want to imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries?”

He questioned whether a public execution would serve any purpose, and expressed concern for the “potential moral injury” to those charged with carrying out the sentence.”

Finally, he asked whether the decision reflects “the dignity of human persons.”

An obligation for Catholic soldiers

The Archbishop called on “all men and women of good will to ask that this decision be reconsidered and, at the very least, do what is possible to keep the exposure to the live-streaming of the proposed execution from the vision of the young and impressionable.”

Finally, Archbishop Broglio addressed Catholic soldiers directly, saying, “As I would in the case of a procured abortion, I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church.”