---
title: "The Military’s Archbishop Tells Catholic Soldiers to Ask Off Nidal Hasan’s Firing Squad"
description: "Archbishop Broglio called the livestreamed execution a “public spectacle,” and the Army has yet to say how it will pick the shooters"
author: "Nate Ledger"
published: 2026-10-12T23:05:16Z
modified: 2026-10-13T14:01:24Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/the-military-s-archbishop-tells-catholic-soldiers-to-ask-off-2f1e5a
language: en
tags: ["trump", "military", "death-penalty", "religion", "politics", "us"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# The Military’s Archbishop Tells Catholic Soldiers to Ask Off Nidal Hasan’s Firing Squad

*Archbishop Broglio called the livestreamed execution a “public spectacle,” and the Army has yet to say how it will pick the shooters*

By Nate Ledger · October 12, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/the-military-s-archbishop-tells-catholic-soldiers-to-ask-off-2f1e5a

## In brief

- Archbishop Timothy Broglio told Catholic troops assigned to Nidal Hasan’s firing squad to request to be excused
- Hasan, convicted in 2013 of killing 13 at Fort Hood in 2009, is set to be executed on December 3
- Army rules allow religious accommodation requests; the Army has not said how it will select the firing squad
- Hegseth wants the execution livestreamed as a deterrent; Republicans including Murkowski, Cramer and Johnson object
- Trump approved the firing squad but says a decision on livestreaming is still pending; Vance says he won’t watch

A firing squad is made of people. That is roughly the whole problem the Pentagon now has. On Monday, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the spiritual care of Catholics in the US armed forces, put out a statement telling any Catholic soldier picked to shoot Nidal Hasan to ask to be let out of it, as [Reuters-sourced reporting in the *South China Morning Post*](https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3370649/catholics-us-army-must-not-take-part-firing-squad-armed-forces-archbishop-says?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage) put it. Here is his sentence: “I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church.”

The verb is “oblige,” which is stronger than “encourage” or “invite.” [OSV News reported](https://www.osvnews.com/archbishop-broglio-denounces-public-spectacle-of-hasan-execution-obliges-catholic-recusal/) the full line, which begins “As I would in the case of a procured abortion.” So the archbishop has put serving on the squad in the same category as one of the church’s firmest prohibitions. He issued the statement soon after meeting Pope Leo XIV in Rome, which [Vatican News](https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2026-10/archbishop-broglio-condemns-plan-to-livestream-execution.html) also noted. A few days before that, Leo had written on social media that the death penalty is “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” He didn’t name Hasan.

The facts underneath are grim. In 2013 a court-martial convicted Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, and sentenced him to death for killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. At trial he admitted he was responsible and said he had opened fire on fellow service members to protect Islamic insurgents from the US military. Broglio wrote that he had presided at the funeral of one of the victims. OSV identifies him as Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed. Hasan is now 56. He was shot by police during his arrest and uses a wheelchair.

![A woodcut-style wheelchair holds a rosary and cross, while its shadow forms a rifle against a textured beige wall and dark green floor.](https://rews.cc/img/4f131e0e6766ba4059c9ae0d93df3aab1fad4bdc.webp)

President Donald Trump has approved execution by firing squad, and the Army has set it for [December 3 at 1 p.m. Central at Fort Hood](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/nidal-hasan-execution-date-fort-hood-firing-squad-october-2026/). Then Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added the extra feature, which [rews covered last week](https://rews.cc/a/hegseth-announced-a-public-execution-on-a-podcast-and-the-ar-1bdf02): soldiers would carry it out at the time, day of the week and place of the original shooting, and the public would be able to watch. His reasoning, [per CBS News](https://cbsnews.com/news/militarys-archbishop-live-stream-execution-nidal-hasan/), is that “people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.” That is a deterrence argument.

## The selection problem

I think the interesting question is the boring administrative one. Army regulations let soldiers request religious exemptions or accommodations, and the Army has not said how it will choose the squad. Before Monday, a Catholic soldier who got the assignment could treat it as a matter of private conscience. Now that soldier’s own archbishop has issued a written instruction, and that is about the strongest supporting document a religious accommodation request could have. The Army then has to grant or deny each request, and each denial is a decision someone has to sign.

The rules here don’t line up neatly. [The *International Business Times* points out](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/us-service-members-religious-exemptions-hasan-execution-1825019) that military regulations recognise conscientious objectors who oppose all war but offer nothing comparable for objecting to a single assignment. If a request is refused and the soldier still won’t do it, the outcome would depend on the circumstances and on military law. Nobody has tested this in a long time, because the military has not used a firing squad since 1945. If Hasan is executed, he would be the first American the military has put to death since 1961.

![Four helmeted soldiers seen from behind stand or walk across a cobblestone courtyard, with the leftmost carrying a blank sheet and a cross.](https://rews.cc/img/3adad3650ff7b9b376f5615d29175753a9e13963.webp)

The written rules on watching are not much clearer. Army Regulation 190-55 sets out who may witness a military execution. [Snopes’s reading](https://www.snopes.com/news/2026/10/09/nidal-hasan-execution-livestream-legal/) is that the list covers designated personnel, the execution team, the prisoner’s lawyer, a chaplain, family representatives and at least two media representatives chosen by Army public affairs. It has no provision for livestreaming. Death penalty experts say no government execution has ever been broadcast or streamed. CBS notes that the last large-scale public execution in the US appears to have been 90 years ago, when Rainey Bethea was hanged for rape in front of a crowd of about 20,000 in Kentucky. Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea are among the countries believed to hold public executions now.

## Who wants to watch

Broglio’s other objections are about the audience. He asked whether anyone had thought about what the stream would do to young viewers, and he warned of “moral injury” to the soldiers doing the shooting. Then he wrote:

> “The US military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world. 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 wheel chair to the whole world? Does this decision reflect the dignity of the human person?”

He also asked: “Do we really want to imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries?” The comparison is unusual coming from the official who ministers to Catholics in that military. Other church leaders have said much the same. According to [EWTN News](https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/bishops-condemn-public-broadcast-of-hasan-execution-emphasize-church-s-opposition-to-death), Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US bishops’ conference, called the decision “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death” that “must be reconsidered,” and Broglio said he backs a statement from the Texas bishops.

![A hand with a dangling cross pulls back a red theater curtain, revealing an empty, spotlighted stage before a seated audience.](https://rews.cc/img/8721563ca19343ffed29a57a8b307cdd60a31013.webp)

Politicians are pushing back too, Republicans included. Senator Lisa Murkowski said “I would expect this from terrorists and dictators, but not here in America.” Senator Kevin Cramer said the “death penalty is not entertainment.” House Speaker Mike Johnson told CBS News that some of his colleagues have “concerns,” which he plans to take to the White House. He named one: “you would create a video that would be a recruiting tool for future terrorists.” He added that he “wouldn’t be watching it if it was aired.”

Johnson’s concern turns Hegseth’s argument around. Both men agree the video would influence potential terrorists. Hegseth thinks it would put them off, and Johnson worries it would recruit them. Neither has evidence either way, because no such video has ever existed.

So far the White House is still deciding. Trump said on Friday that “they’re making a determination” about the stream, but that Hasan “will be killed.” Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, has suggested it may not be streamed at all, which contradicts Hegseth. Vance also said “if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.” The Pentagon did not immediately respond to CBS’s request for comment.

The livestream was supposed to change the behaviour of whoever watched it. So far it has mostly given senior people a reason to say they won’t watch, and given the soldiers who might be ordered to do the shooting a written reason to ask out.

## Sources

- [US archbishop says Catholics in army should not participate in firing squad](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/12/us-archbishop-says-catholics-in-army-should-not-participate-in-firing-squad) — aljazeera.com
- [Catholics in US Army must not take part in firing squad, armed forces archbishop says](https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3370649/catholics-us-army-must-not-take-part-firing-squad-armed-forces-archbishop-says?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage) — scmp.com
- [Military’s archbishop criticizes plan to livestream execution](https://cbsnews.com/news/militarys-archbishop-live-stream-execution-nidal-hasan/) — cbsnews.com