Pope: Execution Violates Life and Deprives Humans of the Chance for Repentance

Pope Francis once again condemned the death penalty on Saturday, saying it violates the sanctity of human life and deprives people of the opportunity for repentance, days after the US Department of Defense, known as the Pentagon, announced its intention to broadcast an execution live.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that the US military would live-broadcast the execution by firing squad of a gunman who killed 13 people at Fort Hood military base in 2009, marking the first such broadcast in US history.

In a post on social media, the Pope wrote, “The common good can be protected and the demands of justice met without resorting to the death penalty,” without referring to the Pentagon’s plan.

He added in the message, published on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, “This penalty is unacceptable because it is an assault on the dignity and inviolability of the human person.”

Nidal Hasan, a former military psychiatrist, will thus become the first person executed by firing squad by the US military since 1945.

Lawmakers, including Republican allies of President Donald Trump, religious leaders, and international observers have objected to the live-broadcast plan, which is backed by Hegseth.

Trump said he had not yet decided whether to allow the live broadcast of the execution, while his vice president, JD Vance, a Catholic, expressed doubts about whether the Pentagon would proceed with the live broadcast of the scheduled execution on December 3.

The planned execution comes amid growing debate in the United States over the death penalty following the botched execution of a woman in Tennessee, which required two doses of lethal injection about two weeks ago.