{"id":227220,"date":"2026-10-11T16:05:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T16:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pope-leo-declares-death-penalty-inadmissible-as-his-native-u-s-plans-to-livestream-execution-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T16:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T16:05:35","slug":"pope-leo-declares-death-penalty-inadmissible-as-his-native-u-s-plans-to-livestream-execution-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pope-leo-declares-death-penalty-inadmissible-as-his-native-u-s-plans-to-livestream-execution-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo declares death penalty \u2018inadmissible\u2019 as his native U.S. plans to livestream execution – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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ROME \u2014 Pope Leo XIV <\/a>on Saturday declared capital punishment \u201cinadmissible\u201d as he marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty and his native United States announced plans to livestream an execution<\/a> by firing squad.
In a post on X, the American pope quoted the revised Catholic teaching on capital punishment ushered in by Pope Francis that the death penalty attacks the inherent dignity of a human being.
\u201cThe common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,\u201d read the post under Leo\u2019s official handle, @Pontifex. \u201cEffective 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.\u201d
The post ended with the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty.
The U.S. Defense Department announced Thursday that the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, <\/a>convicted of a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base, will be livestreamed. Hasan, scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others.
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Leo didn\u2019t refer specifically to the planned execution, or the botched lethal injection in Tennessee last week <\/a>that has revived debate over the death penalty in the United States. Saturday is World Day Against the Death Penalty, and it is common for the pope\u2019s official social media accounts to post messages marking such commemorations.
But Leo\u2019s post came just hours after his top deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said explicitly that the planned U.S. public execution was \u201cunacceptable.\u201d
Pope Francis in 2018 amended official Catholic teaching to declare capital punishment \u201cinadmissible\u201d in all circumstances.
Previously, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official compendium of church teaching, said the church didn\u2019t exclude recourse to capital punishment \u201cif this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.\u201d
Past popes had upheld that position, though St. John Paul II began urging an end to the practice and stressed that guilty people were just as deserving of dignity as innocent ones.
Like Francis before him, Leo has made visiting prisons a key part of his papal travel in a bid to give a message of hope to inmates and underscore their inherent dignity, that God loves them and that there is always a chance for redemption.
\u201cIf any of you fear being abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that the church will stand by your side,\u201d Leo told inmates at the notorious Bata prison in Equatorial Guinea during his visit in April. Leo is to visit a prison in Buenos Aires during his upcoming tour through Latin America.
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Speaking specifically about the United States, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said the planned livestreamed execution was \u201ctruly incomprehensible\u201d and \u201cunacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.\u201d
\u201cThe Church\u2019s position is one of total opposition to the death penalty; it is incompatible with human dignity and serves as no deterrent\u2014,\u201d Parolin said in comments carried by Vatican News. \u201cIt is truly incomprehensible that anyone would want to use this system today \u2014 I don\u2019t know for what purpose. It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle; even if the person is guilty, of course, there are other methods.\u201d
The head of the U.S. bishops conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed \u201cshock\u201d and \u201cgreat sorrow\u201d at the Pentagon\u2019s plans.
\u201cIn no way can Hasan\u2019s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered,\u201d he said in a statement Friday. \u201cThe public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.\u201d
The Associated Press
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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For YouSettings news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeROME \u2014 Pope Leo XIV on Saturday declared capital punishment \u201cinadmissible\u201d as he marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty and his native United States announced plans to livestream an execution by firing squad.In a post on X, the American pope quoted the revised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":227221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}