Military
The archbishop for the U.S. military says any Catholic service members who are assigned to participate in the livestreamed firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan should ask to be excused — the latest pushback against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's plan.
Broglio pointed to the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty. He also warned of "moral injury" to service members who are tasked with carrying out the execution, and asked: "Do we really want to imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries?"
Hegseth said last week the military plans to make the execution public "because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."
In 2013, Hasan was convicted by court-martial and sentenced to death for killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 at the Army installation in Fort Hood, Texas. The former Army psychiatrist acknowledged at trial that he was responsible for the shooting, claiming he opened fire on fellow service members in an attempt to protect Islamic insurgents from the U.S. military.
Publicly viewable executions are virtually unheard of in modern U.S. history: The country's last large-scale public execution appeared to take place 90 years ago, when Rainey Bethea was hanged for rape in front of a crowd of about 20,000 in Kentucky. Other countries that are believed to carry out public executions include Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told CBS News some of his House Republican colleagues have "concerns," which he plans to bring to the White House.
Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, told reporters last week that "if it's ultimately livestreamed, I'm not going to be watching it."
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- The archbishop for the U.S. military says any Catholic service members who are assigned to participate in the livestreamed firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan should ask to be excused — the latest pushback against Defens
- Broglio pointed to the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty. He also warned of "moral injury" to service members who are tasked with carrying out the execution, and asked: "Do we really want to imitate the terrorists of this wo
- Hegseth said last week the military plans to make the execution public "because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."
- In 2013, Hasan was convicted by court-martial and sentenced to death for killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 at the Army installation in Fort Hood, Texas. The former Army psychiatrist acknowledged at trial that he was responsible fo
- Publicly viewable executions are virtually unheard of in modern U.S. history: The country's last large-scale public execution appeared to take place 90 years ago, when Rainey Bethea was hanged for rape in front of a crowd of about 20,000 in