Pope Leo XIV, on Saturday, condemned the death penalty, saying it violates human dignity, as the U.S. government announced the planned execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who opened fire on American soldiers in 2009, killing 13 and injuring 32.

“The death penalty is inadmissible because it violates the inviolability and dignity of the person,” the Pope said on X.

In support of the #NoDeathPenalty campaign, the Pontiff argued that “The common good can be protected and the requirements of justice can be safeguarded without resorting to capital punishment: effective penitentiary systems have already been developed that protect citizens and, at the same time, do not entirely deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption. #NoDeathPenalty”

Although the Pope did not mention Mr Hasan’s case, his support for the #NoDeathPenalty campaign comes as the U.S. Army, in a memo dated October 6, 2026, said Mr Hasan would be executed on December 3 at 1:00 p.m. Central Time at Fort Hood, Texas.

The announcement followed President Donald Trump’s approval of the execution on October 2. Hasan’s execution would mark the first execution by firing squad in the U.S. military since World War II.

Mr Hasan, popularly known as the “Fort Hood shooter” following the incident, is a U.S.-born Arab American of Palestinian descent and a former U.S. Army major. He was convicted of mass murder over the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting.

Court-martialled in 2013, Mr Hasan was convicted of mass murder and has remained on death row at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after exhausting his appeals.

Mr Hasan, 56, served as a psychiatrist in the Army Medical Corps until 2009, when he carried out the shooting.