ROME — Pope Leo XIV waded into the debate over the death penalty Saturday, calling it “an attack” on human dignity a day after senior Church officials pointedly condemned the decision by the U.S. Defense Department to live-stream the execution of the convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.
On a day that capital punishment opponents have dubbed “World Day Against the Death Penalty,” Leo did not specifically reference the United States or Hasan, who on Dec. 3 is scheduled to die in the first known U.S. military execution by firing squad since 1945.
Writing on X, Leo reiterated his opposition, describing the death penalty as “inadmissible” and arguing that the “common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment.”
He ended with the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty.
Hasan, a former U.S. Army psychiatrist, opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. In an unprecedented move, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week that Hasan’s execution by firing squad would be live-streamed for the public. President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he had personally authorized the live stream.
Since a dustup in April, when Trump sharply criticized the first U.S.-born pope and Leo responded by saying he had “no fear” of the administration, the pontiff has sought to lower the tone of confrontation with the White House. Instead, he has left it to top proxies to more pointedly challenge specific administration policies the Church opposes while Leo takes to issuing broader, higher altitude statements.
That tactic appeared to be playing out again on the Pentagon’s decision to live-stream Hasan’s execution. Leo issued his broader comments after his No. 2 — Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state — on Friday delivered more stinging criticism of the Pentagon’s decision, calling it “unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.”
The debate over the death penalty has also heightened in the U.S. following the botched execution in Tennessee of Christa Pike, 50, who survived two doses of pentobarbital following a death sentence for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer.
Leo has encouraged senior Church hierarchy in the U.S. to respond on U.S. domestic affairs. And also on Friday, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley — issued a statement decrying the planned live stream as “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death.”
“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,” Coakley said in a statement.
The Catholic Church has hardened its opposition to the death penalty in recent years, including under Pope Francis. Since becoming pope last year, Leo has repeatedly denounced capital punishment. Last year, he challenged those who describe themselves as “pro-life” in the U.S. for opposing abortion while still supporting the death penalty.
“Someone who says ‘I am against abortion’ but says ‘I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” Leo said.
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