Pope Leo condemns death penalty as Trump mulls livestreamed execution

Pope Leo renewed his condemnation of the ​death penalty on Saturday, saying it violates ​the sanctity of human ‌life and ​deprives people of the chance of redemption, days after the Pentagon said it planned to livestream an execution. The US military ‌will livestream the upcoming firing squad execution of a gunman who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in 2009, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, in what ‌would be an unprecedented broadcast of a US execution.

"The common good can be safeguarded ‌and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment," Leo, the first pope from the United States, said in a social media post, without mentioning the Pentagon plan. "The death penalty is ⁠inadmissible because ​it is an ⁠attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person," he added in the message posted on the World ⁠Day Against the Death Penalty.

Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, is set to become the first ​person to be executed by firing squad by the US military since 1945. The livestream ⁠plan, championed by Hegseth, has drawn opposition from lawmakers, including from President Donald Trump's Republicans, religious leaders and ⁠international observers.

Trump ​himself has said he has not yet decided whether to allow the live feed, while Vice President JD Vance, who is a Catholic, expressed scepticism over whether the ⁠Pentagon would proceed with livestreaming the scheduled December 3 execution. Vance also said he would not ⁠watch the livestream ⁠if it went ahead.

The execution plan comes amid heightened debate in the US over the death penalty following a botched lethal injection ‌of a Tennessee ‌woman last week.