Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees pastoral care for Catholics in the US Army, criticized on Monday, October 12, the plan to broadcast Nidal Hasan’s execution live. He called on Catholics assigned to the execution squad to ask to be excused from that duty.
The statement was published a few hours after the archbishop’s audience with Pope Leo XIV, according to OSV News. Reuters described it as unusually strongly worded. Broglio has headed the Archdiocese for the US Military Services since 2008 and is a former president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
What the archbishop wrote
According to OSV News, Broglio called the plan a “public spectacle of the barbaric killing of our adversaries.” He asked whether the US really wants to imitate terrorists. He also pointed to the risk of “moral trauma” for soldiers on the execution squad. He further asked whether the effects of young people watching the broadcast could be undone in the 250th anniversary year of US independence.
Addressing Catholics assigned to the squad, he wrote: “As in the case of abortion, I obligate all Catholics assigned to the execution squad to ask to be excused from this action, which is contrary to the teaching of the Church.” He also called on “all people of good will” to ask that the decision be reconsidered.
The archbishop recalled that he presided over the funeral of Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in the Fort Hood attack, and reiterated his condolences to the victims’ families. However, he noted that Hasan disregarded the dignity of the human person, and that this dignity is now “once again under threat.” Fort Hood falls under the pastoral jurisdiction of his archdiocese.
Background
Hasan, a former US Army major and psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 in the 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas. The execution has been scheduled for December 3. According to OSV News, it would be the first public broadcast of an execution in the US. Legal analysts cited by OSV note that appeals and other procedures could push the execution beyond that date.
The plan had previously been criticized by politicians from both parties, including Republican senators. We have already reported on the opposition to broadcasting Hasan’s execution. Broglio’s position is the voice of a religious institution that provides pastoral care to part of the military.
What it means
The appeal concerns a specific group: Catholics assigned to the army’s execution squad. Under his guidance, they may ask to be excused from participation. At the time of publication, no response from the Pentagon to the statement or information on a final decision about the broadcast had been found. For readers in Poland, this is a political and worldview issue; the sentence itself has no direct consequences outside the US.
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