Pope Leo XIV calls death penalty inadmissible as US plans streamed execution
Pope Leo XIV posted on X on Saturday, World Day Against the Death Penalty, as the Pentagon prepares a live-streamed firing squad for Nidal Malik Hasan on 3 December at a Texas military base.
The papal message
Pope Leo XIV said on Saturday that the death penalty is inadmissible, marking the World Day Against the Death Penalty with a post on X that carried the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty. The message was published on nine accounts in nine languages, including Spanish, English, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Polish and Latin. The post did not name the United States, the Pentagon or any individual case, although it appeared while a planned execution in the United States was drawing wide attention.
The death penalty is inadmissible because it attacks the inviolability and dignity of the person.
The second part of the message argues that the common good can be protected without executions, because effective detention systems already protect citizens without denying the guilty any chance of redemption.
Effective detention systems have been developed that protect citizens and, at the same time, do not completely deprive the guilty of the possibility of redeeming themselves.
The Hasan execution plan
Nidal Malik Hasan, a former army major, was convicted for the 2009 Fort Hood attack that killed 13 people and wounded 32. He is scheduled to be executed on 3 December at the military base in Texas. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the execution will be carried out by a firing squad of soldiers and broadcast live. The Pentagon made the announcement the day before the Pope's post, which places it on 9 October. President Donald Trump said Hasan 'deserves' to be executed, a remark that came as the broadcast plan drew criticism in the United States. The Pope's message did not refer to the case directly.
- Killed
- 13 people
- Wounded
- 32 people
The attack's toll is the basis for the sentence and the public reaction, with 13 people killed and 32 wounded.
- Pentagon announces a live-streamed firing-squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan
- Pope Leo XIV posts on X that the death penalty is inadmissible
- Scheduled execution of Hasan at the Texas military base
Vatican and US church reaction
The Pope's message followed a harsh condemnation from American bishops and the indignation of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state. Parolin has called it 'unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle'. The planned broadcast could be accessible from millions of phones and tablets, a prospect that places the United States at the center of a moral and political dispute with the Vatican and the Trump administration. Separately, the UN human rights office recalled that announcing the intention to execute someone publicly through a live broadcast may constitute a form of torture and is an absolutely prohibited act.
Christa Pike and the US debate
The papal post came as the US debate over capital punishment was focused on the failed execution of Christa Pike. Pike survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital. The failed execution has revived intense discussion of the death penalty in the United States, the home country of Leo XIV. The Pope's message did not mention Pike, Hasan or the Pentagon.
Church teaching
In 2018, Pope Francis changed the Catechism of the Catholic Church to declare the death penalty 'inadmissible' in all cases. Leo XIV has continued that position and has included prison visits in his apostolic journeys. The catechism text was drafted under the former Vienna archbishop Christoph Schönborn, and the Catholic Church has long opposed capital punishment. The post repeats this teaching on a day observed every year on 10 October. The execution at the center of the controversy remains scheduled for 3 December.
