Pope blasts death penalty as US plans livestream execution

In a post on X, the American Pope quoted the revised Catholic teaching on capital punishment ushered in by Pope Francis that the death penalty attacks the inherent dignity of a human being.

“The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,” read a post under Pope Leo’s official handle, @Pontifex. “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.”

The post ended with the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty.

The US Department of Defense announced on October 8 that the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base, will be livestreamed. Hasan, scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood on December 3, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others.

Pope Leo didn’t refer specifically to the planned execution, or to the September 30 botched lethal injection in Tennessee that has revived debate over the death penalty in the United States. October 10 is World Day Against the Death Penalty, and it is common for the Pope’s official social media accounts to post messages marking such commemorations.

But Leo’s post came just hours after his top deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, referred to the planned US public execution. Cardinal Parolin said the livestreamed execution is “truly incomprehensible” and it is “unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle”.

The head of the US bishops conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed “shock” and “great sorrow” at the Pentagon’s plans.

“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 October 9. “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.”

US Vice President J.D. Vance cast doubt on whether the Pentagon would livestream the execution but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it”. President Donald Trump has approved and endorsed Hasan’s execution. The US military hasn’t executed a service member by firing squad since World War II. 

Pope Francis in 2018 amended official Catholic teaching to declare capital punishment “inadmissible” in all circumstances.

Previously, the Catechism of the Catholic Church said the Church didn’t exclude recourse to capital punishment “if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor”.

Past popes had upheld that position, though St John Paul II began urging an end to the practice and stressed that guilty people were just as deserving of dignity as innocent ones.

FULL STORY

Pope Leo blasts death penalty as US plans to livestream execution (By Nicole Winfield/Associated Press/National Catholic Reporter)

Catholic VP Vance expresses doubts about Pentagon plan to livestream Fort Hood shooter’s execution (Crux Now)

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