By Kate Scanlon
OSV News
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Oct. 15 called off Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s plans to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad in December.
The plan was met with widespread condemnation, including from U.S. bishops.
In a post on his social media website, Truth Social, Trump said Hasan, a former U.S. Army psychiatrist, “is a very bad and evil man,” pointing to his conviction for killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.
“With all of that being said, I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” Trump said. “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”
Trump added that the execution “may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, if they so choose. They deserve to witness JUSTICE!”
Shortly after Trump approved the execution of Hasan by firing squad, Hegseth said Oct. 8 in an interview with the pro-Trump TV outlet Real America’s Voice News that the execution would take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, and that it would be made public.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” said Hegseth, who uses the moniker “secretary of war” since Trump signed an executive order last year adding the “Department of War” as a secondary, ceremonial title for the Department of Defense. He later confirmed on social media that meant livestreaming the execution.
The announcement prompted widespread backlash, including from Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who denounced the plan as “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death” that “must be reconsidered.”
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, also called for the plan to be reconsidered, and obliged any Catholics to request recusal from the firing squad as they would from any action that contradicts the teachings of their faith.
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, the state where Fort Hood is located, also condemned the plan.
Widespread opposition
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, said in an Oct. 15 statement, “I appreciate that President Trump has heard the fierce opposition — from faith and political leaders — to the proposed idea of a livestreamed military execution. Two things can be true at the same time: The Administration’s moving away from publicly streaming a firing squad execution is a step in the right direction, and any execution is a failure.”
Vaillancourt Murphy argued the execution itself should not go forward.
“We don’t need to expose our correctional staff, military personnel, or anyone else to the trauma of executions,” she continued. “We know that the death penalty doesn’t deter crime or make our communities safer. It drains vast public resources that could be used to help victims of crime and prevent more violence.”
A new poll released Oct. 15 by The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos found the overwhelming majority of Americans opposed Hegseth’s plan to livestream the execution.
While a narrow 53% majority of Americans said they support executing Hasan by firing squad, with 42% opposed, the poll found 80% of Americans said the execution should not be livestreamed to the public.
Although there were differences in opposition across partisan groups, it also found that majorities in each group said they opposed livestreaming Hasan’s execution, including 91% of Democrats, 83% of independents and 64% of Republicans.
The Catholic Church’s official magisterium opposes the use of capital punishment as a violation of the inherent sanctity of human life, and advocates for the abolition of the practice worldwide.
Pope Francis revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to clarify the Church’s teaching that capital punishment is morally “inadmissible” in the modern world “because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”
The teaching was reiterated by Pope Leo XIV in an Oct. 10 X post for the World Day Against the Death Penalty.
The pope noted that justice can be upheld and the common good of humanity can be safeguarded without relying on capital punishment.
“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption. #NoDeathPenalty,” Pope Leo wrote.