Archbishop Timothy Broglio on Monday told Catholic service members assigned to the planned firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan to seek removal from the detail, citing Catholic teaching against the death penalty. The execution is planned to be livestreamed, according to the reports.
Broglio, the archbishop for the Military Services, also expressed sympathy for victims of the 2009 Fort Hood attack. Hasan, a former Army major, killed 13 people in the shooting, Al Jazeera reported. In his statement, Broglio said he obliged Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request an excuse from an action he described as contrary to church teaching. Fox News reported that Pope Leo XIV also opposed capital punishment in a social media post Saturday, calling it “inadmissible.”