Pope Leo XIV declares death penalty 'inadmissible' as U.S. plans livestreamed execution
The pope's statement came as the U.S. Defence Department announced it would livestream a firing squad execution.
ROME · Pope Leo XIV declared capital punishment "inadmissible" on Saturday, marking the World Day Against the Death Penalty. The American pope posted the statement on X, quoting revised Catholic teaching that the death penalty attacks human dignity. His comments came as the United States Defence Department announced plans to livestream an execution by firing squad next month. The pope's top deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had earlier called the planned public execution "unacceptable."
In his post on the social media platform X, Pope Leo wrote, "The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment." He added that effective detention systems 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 pope did not refer specifically to the planned U.S. execution.
The U.S. Defence Department announced on Thursday that the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed. Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base, is scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said the plan was "truly incomprehensible" and "unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle." Parolin's comments were carried by Vatican News.
READ MORE: Canada and Turkey launch strategic partnership to expand trade and defence ties
READ MORE: Trump says Pentagon will not livestream Fort Hood shooter's execution
The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed "shock" and "great sorrow" at the Pentagon's plans in a statement on Friday. "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," Coakley said. "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." Pope Francis amended official Catholic teaching in 2018 to declare capital punishment "inadmissible" in all circumstances. Previously, the Catechism of the Catholic Church stated the church did not exclude recourse to capital punishment "if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor." Like his predecessor, Pope Leo has made prison visits a key part of his papal travel to show the inherent dignity of inmates.
The planned livestream has drawn criticism from U.S. politicians across party lines. Republican Representative Austin Scott said he supported executing Hasan but that "livestreaming executions is what Jihadists do. America is better than that." Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hasan should "face justice" but that public executions are "the kind of thing that Iran and the Taliban do." On Friday, Vice President JD Vance, a practising Catholic, expressed doubt about whether the livestream would proceed and told reporters he would not watch it.
With files from CityNews, Global News and Toronto Star