WASHINGTON — The archbishop who oversees Catholic ministry to the U.S. military says Catholic soldiers assigned to the firing squad for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan should ask to be excused, the Associated Press reported via KTAR News.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio also condemned the proposed livestream of the execution in a statement Monday, calling the duty contrary to church teaching.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3.
Broglio said he presided at the funeral of Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in the attack. Hasan’s crime “was heinous, but does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?” he asked.
“Is there really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world?” Broglio said of the military.
Other Catholic leaders have also spoken out against the death penalty and the livestream plans.
Sources: Associated Press via KTAR News. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: The U.S. Army / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
