WASHINGTON (OSV News) — A plan by Pentagon officials to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad in December has been met with mounting bipartisan criticism from lawmakers and condemnation by leading Catholic figures.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, said in a statement that the timing of the livestream announcement “is particularly bleak.” She noted it came shortly after Tennessee officials failed in their attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Gail Pike, “which horrified the world; days before the World Day Against the Death Penalty; and in October when American Catholics celebrate Respect Life Month.”

“This is a time when we should be talking about dismantling the culture of death, not promoting it,” she said.

‘Barbaric promotion of a culture of death’

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the decision “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death,” which would “only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.”

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, and the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, also condemned the plan.

“As I would in the case of a procured abortion, I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church,” Archbishop Broglio said.

Pope Leo XIV, issued a statement for World Day Against the Death Penalty Oct. 10 — a day after Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin called the U.S. plans “incomprehensible” — reaffirming the Church’s magisterium on capital punishment: “The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” 

He said justice and the common good can be met without resorting to capital punishment because “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.”

‘It should not be happening in America’

President Donald Trump recently approved the execution by firing squad of Hasan, the former U.S. Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.

But after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said they planned to livestream Hasan’s execution Dec. 3 so the public can watch, even some lawmakers who support the death penalty, such as Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., objected.

“Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting,” Tillis argued. “Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.”

Afghanistan and Iran are the only two countries known to have held public executions in 2025, according to Amnesty International. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson also suggested there was unease among House Republicans about the plan in an Oct. 12 interview with CBS.

“I need to tell the White House what some of my colleagues think about that, and not everybody’s in favor of the idea,” he said.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who has previously introduced legislation to end the federal death penalty, wrote on X, “Public executions have no place in a democracy. We as a nation cannot stoop to the level of the people we seek to punish.”

Vance: ‘I’m not going to be watching it’

Amid the controversy, Vice President JD Vance, on Oct. 9 appeared to cast doubt on whether Hegseth’s plan was “actually going to happen,” telling reporters in any event, “I’m not going to be watching it.”

“Whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Vance, a Catholic, said.

On Oct. 10, Trump also cast doubt on the plans, telling reporters at the White House, “There are two thoughts: Don’t show it and show it. ‘Cause you know, by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did. So I’ll make a decision ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but I’ll make a decision.”

Last year, Trump directed top prosecutors to increase the number of death penalty cases they sought with federal charges.

Undermining ‘our own humanity’

Catholic opponents of the death penalty also called for an end to the practice in response. 

“Beyond the fact that executions do not deter crime or increase safety, it’s appalling that a public official would try to introduce it as a livestream arcade,” Vaillancourt Murphy said. 

“It’s been almost a century since our country’s last public execution, and we must not fall into the abyss of such a vengeful practice,” she said.

The last two public executions took place in the U.S. in 1936 and 1937. Nearly 20,000 people gathered to watch the hanging of Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky, for rape and murder, which sparked public backlash owing to the execution’s carnival atmosphere. The last public execution took place the following year, when 500 people watched Roscoe Jackson’s hanging for murder in rural Stone County, Missouri.

“We undermine our own humanity when we treat another person’s death as something to watch, celebrate, or use for entertainment,” Vaillancourt Murphy said. 

Vaillancourt Murphy also pointed to comments from Pope Leo, who said during his apostolic visit to France, “The greatness of a civilization is not measured by its material achievements, but by the way it cares for, protects and upholds the human person.”

“With every execution,” she said, “we violate human dignity because every person is created in the image of God — no matter the harm they have caused or suffered. The Church instructs us to not seek cruel retribution, but a justice that holds people accountable without perpetuating the cycle of death.”

Vaillancourt Murphy said Hasan’s actions “ought not be condoned in any way.” 

“He inflicted horrible pain and caused terrifying trauma in killing 13, injuring 32, and impacting so many more,” she said. “But we must not be blinded by bloodlust.”

‘Death is not a spectacle’

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, another Republican and Catholic who objected to the livestream, pointed out Hasan, a self-described jihadist, would be getting what he wanted. She argued in a post on X, “It would give this individual, who deserves no further notoriety, the martyrdom he seeks. How we carry out justice matters just as much as the justice itself, so I urge the Pentagon to reverse this gruesome decision.”

But Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in an Oct. 11 interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” dismissed concerns Hasan’s execution could lead to “elevated risk” to the U.S. He also added, “No one has to watch it if they don’t choose to.”

Ashley McGuire, senior fellow at The Catholic Association, said in a statement Hasan’s actions “were heinous and justice should be carried out, but the decision to livestream his execution is barbaric and totally unfitting for a nation that purports to defend human dignity.” 

“We cannot claim any moral ground on matters of human rights, if we then put death on display for leering eyes,” McGuire said. “Death is not a spectacle. By repaying barbarism with barbarism and celebrating death as a society, we harm the dignity of all.”

Christa Pike’s botched execution

Hegseth’s announcement followed a day after Christa Pike’s attorneys told media outlets that their client, whom they initially believed “brain-dead” after her botched lethal injection, woke up in the hospital “angry and confused,” and started speaking. 

In written comments shared with OSV News on the Pike case, Richard Garnett, director of the University of Notre Dame Program on Church, State and Society, said the case raises “several distinct but related legal questions, in addition to the obvious moral and political ones.”

“First, our Constitution is understood to require that any person facing the death penalty is ‘competent’ — that is, that he or she understands the nature of what is being done. We do not yet know whether or not the failed execution has harmed Ms. Pike’s cognitive capacities such that she is not able to understand the connection between her crime and the state’s action,” he said.

“Second, the state’s failure to carry out Ms. Pike’s execution, and the likelihood that she suffered intensely as a result, adds support to arguments her defense team could make that Tennessee’s method of imposing capital punishment violates the Constitution’s prohibition on ‘cruel and unusual’ punishments,” he continued. “Third, the state’s failure raises the question whether a second attempt at capital punishment, after a failed and painful first attempt, violates the Constitution, period.” 

“Although it is unlikely that a court would conclude that the state’s incompetent attempt categorically bars a later one, the governor could conclude that the circumstances warrant clemency,” he added.

‘What is being done in our name’

Asked about the Pentagon’s plan to livestream Hasan’s execution, Garnett said, “There are no barriers, in current constitutional law, to televising or livestreaming an execution.”

Garnett indicated the livestreaming of the execution would make the nature of the death penalty front and center for the public.

“Indeed, there are many who would argue that it is more appropriate that executions — if they are to happen at all — be visible, so that the public better understands and appreciates what is being done in our name,” he said.

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.