Timothy P. Broglio objected Monday to the planned livestreamed firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan and told Catholic service members assigned to take part to ask to be excused. He said the proposal risks moral injury and asked whether the US military should turn the killing into a public spectacle.
Broglio wrote, “Do we really want to imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries?” He also said, “The US military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world.”
Pete Hegseth plan
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that Hasan’s December execution would be publicly viewable because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things. That plan drew Broglio’s objection and puts Catholic service members in the middle of a dispute over who should carry out a livestreamed death sentence.
Broglio said service members assigned to participate should ask to be excused. He also asked whether broadcasting “the image of the execution of a man in a wheel chair to the whole world” reflects the dignity of the human person.
Nidal Hasan case
Hasan was convicted by court-martial in 2013 and sentenced to death for killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 at Fort Hood, Texas. At trial, he said he was responsible for the shooting and claimed he opened fire on fellow service members in an attempt to protect Islamic insurgents from the U.S. military.
The planned execution would be the U.S. military’s first execution of an American since 1961 and its first use of a firing squad since 1945. Publicly viewable executions are virtually unheard of in modern U.S. history, and the last large-scale public execution cited in the dispute took place about 90 years ago in Kentucky.
Catholic Church objections
Three days earlier, Pope Leo XIV wrote on social media that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. Broglio’s statement followed that message and echoed the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty while focusing on the role of Catholic service members in the execution plan.
The broader dispute now centers on whether the military will proceed with a public broadcast and whether Catholic personnel will seek exemption if assigned. Hegseth has said the purpose is to make the consequences clear, while Broglio has argued that broadcasting the execution would cross a line for those asked to take part.
