US military archbishop urges Catholic soldiers to refuse involvement in Army firing squad execution

Catholics serving in the Army should request to be excused from participating in the planned firing squad execution of a convicted Fort Hood mass shooter, which the Pentagon has proposed livestreaming, a prominent U.S.archbishop who oversees Catholic pastoral services for the military said on Monday.Archbishop Timothy Broglio raised several objections to the Pentagon's unprecedented plan to broadcast the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base.

Hasan, now 56, uses a wheelchair, after being shot by responding officers during the attack.Hasan is set to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec.3, at 1 p.m.

CST, according to the U.S.Army, which would make him the first person to be executed by firing squad by the U.S.

military since 1945.It would also mark the first U.S.

military execution by any method since 1961.Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he wanted soldiers to execute Hasan at the time, day of the week and location of the shooting and has argued that making the execution public would help serve as a deterrent.Broglio recalled presiding over the funeral of one of Hasan's victims, Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in that attack, and expressed sorrow over the deadly shooting.

But the archbishop questioned whether the U.S.government wanted to "imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries."POPE LEO DENOUNCES DEATH PENALTY AS 'INADMISSIBLE' AHEAD OF PENTAGON'S PLANNED LIVESTREAMED EXECUTIONArchbishop Timothy Broglio raised several objections to the Pentagon's unprecedented plan to broadcast the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan.

(AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)Hasan's crime "was heinous, but does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?" Broglio asked in a statement."I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action...