January 1, Military Archbishop Tells Catholic Troops to Skip Fort Hood Firing Squad

Wyatt’s Take

• The U.S. military archbishop is telling Catholic soldiers to request religious exemptions from the planned Fort Hood firing squad execution.
• Catholic leaders and even some Republicans are blasting the Pentagon’s unprecedented plan to livestream the execution of convicted terrorist Nidal Hasan.
• President Trump has not yet decided whether to allow the public broadcast, while Pope Leo and top bishops call the spectacle a threat to human dignity.

Catholics serving in the Army should request to be excused from participating in the planned firing squad execution of a convicted Fort Hood mass shooter, which the Pentagon has proposed livestreaming, a prominent U.S. archbishop who oversees Catholic pastoral services for the military said on Monday.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio raised several objections to the Pentagon’s unprecedented plan to broadcast the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base. Hasan, now 56, uses a wheelchair, after being shot by responding officers during the attack.

Hasan is set to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, at 1 p.m. CST, according to the U.S. Army, which would make him the first person to be executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since 1945. It would also mark the first U.S. military execution by any method since 1961.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he wanted soldiers to execute Hasan at the time, day of the week and location of the shooting and has argued that making the execution public would help serve as a deterrent.

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

Army regulations permit soldiers to seek religious exemptions or accommodations.

“The U.S. military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world,” Broglio said. “Is there really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world?”

The head of the U.S. bishops conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed “shock” and “great sorrow” about the public execution plan and urged the U.S. to reconsider.

“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,” he said in a statement on Friday. “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.”

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, called the proposed broadcast “truly incomprehensible” and warned that it was “unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.”

“The Church’s position is one of total opposition to the death penalty; it is incompatible with human dignity and serves as no deterrent,” Parolin told reporters on Friday.

According to the English translation published by Vatican News, Parolin said, “It is truly incomprehensible that anyone would want to use this method in this day and age. I do not know for what purpose. It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle. However guilty the person may be, there are other ways.”

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.

“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.”

Wyatt Matters

Heartland families have always believed that justice must be swift, certain, and never turned into a sideshow. When our military and religious leaders stand together to protect the dignity of even the guilty, they remind us that America can defend itself without copying the barbarism of our enemies.