Pope Leo XIV calls death penalty attack on human dignity as US plans to livestream execution

Pope Leo XIV has declared the death penalty an attack on human dignity as the United States faces growing backlash over plans to livestream the execution of a former Army psychiatrist by firing squad.

The American-born pope made the remarks on Saturday, marking the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Leo XIV took to X and repeated the Catholic Church’s position that capital punishment is “inadmissible” because it violates the dignity of the human person.

He also said justice and public safety can be protected without putting offenders to death.

The timing of his comments has drawn attention in the U.S., where the Pentagon plans to livestream the December 3 execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.

Hasan is expected to be executed by firing squad at the same Texas military base where the attack took place.

If carried out as planned, it would be the first U.S. military execution by firing squad since 1945 and the first military execution of any kind since 1961.

Pope Leo did not mention Hasan by name or directly refer to the planned broadcast. But other senior Catholic figures have openly criticised the move.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin called the idea of livestreaming the execution unacceptable, while Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, described turning an execution into a public spectacle as “barbaric.”

The issue has also caused unease beyond the Catholic Church. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have questioned whether an execution should be broadcast publicly, while President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both indicated that the livestream plan remains under discussion.