Pope Leo XIV renewed his condemnation of the death penalty on Saturday (10 October), saying it violated the sanctity of human life and denied people the chance of redemption, days after the Pentagon announced plans to livestream a U.S. military execution.
The U.S. military plans to livestream a firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the plan on Thursday, which would mark an unprecedented broadcast of a U.S. execution.
“The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,” Leo, the first pope from the United States, said in a social media post marking the World Day Against the Death Penalty.
“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” he added, without referring directly to the Pentagon's livestream plan.
Hasan is set to become the first person to be executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since 1945. The planned livestream, championed by Hegseth, has drawn opposition from lawmakers, including members of President Donald Trump's Republican Party, as well as religious leaders and international observers.
Trump has said he has not yet decided whether to allow the broadcast. Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, has also expressed doubts about whether the Pentagon would proceed with the livestream of the execution, scheduled for 3 December.
Vance said he would not watch the broadcast if it went ahead.
The plan comes amid renewed debate in the United States over capital punishment following a botched lethal injection of a woman in Tennessee last week.
Leo's comments reiterated his opposition to the death penalty, which he said could not be justified when justice and public safety could be achieved by other means.
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