Broglio Obliges Catholic Recusal From Hasan Execution
Hours after an audience with Pope Leo XIV, the military archbishop called the planned livestream a 'barbaric spectacle' and urged reconsideration.
On Monday, Archbishop Broglio obliged Catholics serving in the U.S. military to request recusal from any participation in the firing squad set to carry out the December execution of Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter.
In a strongly worded statement, Broglio denounced the plan to livestream the execution as a “public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries” and questioned whether the display aligns with human dignity. He warned that the duty could inflict moral injury on service members and called on people of good will to seek reconsideration of the livestream decision.
Broglio noted that he had presided at the funeral of one of Hasan’s victims. He reiterated the Church’s opposition to capital punishment. The Magisterium teaches that the death penalty is inadmissible as an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the human person. The archbishop applied that teaching to the concrete obligations faced by Catholic service members.
His statement came hours after Broglio’s audience with Pope Leo XIV.