Catholic service members assigned to a firing squad for the planned execution of convicted Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Malik Hasan should seek permission to step aside, Archbishop Timothy Broglio said Monday. Broglio, who leads Catholic pastoral support for the U.S. military, also criticized the Pentagon’s proposal to livestream the execution.
The archbishop objected to several elements of the unprecedented plan involving Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 during the 2009 attack at Fort Hood, now known as Fort Cavazos.
Hasan, 56, has used a wheelchair since he was shot by police officers responding to the massacre.
The Army says Hasan is scheduled to die at Fort Hood on Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. CST. If carried out, the execution would be the first firing-squad killing conducted by the U.S. military since 1945 and the first military execution by any method since 1961.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the execution should take place at the same time, on the same day of the week and at the same location as Hasan’s 2009 attack. He has also argued that broadcasting the event could send a deterrent message.
Broglio said the tragedy remains deeply personal for him, recalling that he presided over the funeral of Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in the shooting. He also expressed sorrow for all those affected by the attack.
At the same time, the archbishop questioned whether the United States should “imitate the terrorists of this world” by turning the killing of an adversary into a public spectacle.
Hasan’s actions were “heinous,” Broglio acknowledged, but he asked whether showing the execution to the public would serve any legitimate purpose.
He urged Catholic soldiers selected for the firing squad to request an exemption, saying participation would conflict with Catholic teaching.
Army rules allow service members to seek religious accommodations or exemptions in certain circumstances.
The military has not explained how it plans to choose the soldiers who would carry out the firing-squad execution.
Broglio also warned that livestreaming the death of a man who uses a wheelchair could damage the U.S. military’s standing around the world. He questioned whether there was any benefit to placing the military “in the same boat with terrorists” by sharing images of the execution globally.
No U.S. government execution has ever been televised or livestreamed for the public, making the Pentagon’s proposal a historic and highly controversial departure that has prompted criticism from religious and political figures.
Broglio is among a growing number of Catholic leaders condemning the Pentagon’s plan to broadcast Hasan’s execution.
Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was shocked and deeply saddened by the proposal. He called on the government to reconsider making the execution public.
Coakley stressed that nothing could excuse Hasan’s crimes, but described the proposed public execution as a barbaric endorsement of a culture of death. He warned that displaying the killing could further weaken the nation’s moral foundations and weigh heavily on the public conscience.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, likewise called the idea of a livestreamed execution “truly incomprehensible.” He said it was unacceptable to transform death into entertainment or spectacle.
Parolin said the Catholic Church completely opposes the death penalty, arguing that it violates human dignity and does not act as an effective deterrent.
In comments reported in English by Vatican News, Parolin questioned why anyone would want to use such a method in the modern era.
“I do not know for what purpose,” he said, adding that even when a person is profoundly guilty, death should not be turned into a public spectacle because other options are available.
Parolin added that the death penalty “is incompatible with human dignity and does not serve as a deterrent.”
Pope Leo XIV reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty as “inadmissible” in a social media post on Saturday marking World Day Against the Death Penalty.
Citing Catholic doctrine revised under his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo emphasized that the death penalty violates human dignity.
“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. 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,” Leo, the first American pope, wrote on X without specifically mentioning the Pentagon’s execution plan for Hasan.
President Donald Trump said Saturday he had not yet decided whether to allow the livestream plan to move forward, although he has reportedly expressed doubts in private about broadcasting the execution.
Vice President JD Vance, who is a Catholic, expressed skepticism about whether the Pentagon would proceed with a public execution. He said he would not watch the livestream if it were carried out.
Several lawmakers, including Republicans, have spoken out against plans to broadcast the execution.
“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said on Thursday. “It should not be happening in America.”
Reuters contributed to this report.