Pope Leo XIV calls death penalty ‘inadmissible’ after US announces plans to livestream Nidal Hasan's execution: ‘Attack on the dignity of the person’

Pope Leo XIV called the death penalty “inadmissible” as he marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty. His statement comes after the US announced plans to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan.Pope Leo XIV calls death penalty ‘inadmissible’ after US announces plans to livestream Nidal Hasan's execution (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP) (AFP)“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective 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. #NoDeathPenalty,” the pope wrote on X.Leo did not specifically refer to Hasan’s execution, or Christa Pike’s failed execution in Tennessee.Also Read | What is thrombocytosis? Christa Pike's blood-clotting condition that may have made lethal injection challenging President Donald Trump has approved the use of a firing squad to execute Hasan, convicted in the 2009 massacre at Fort Hood in Texas. On Monday, October 5, the Pentagon announced on social media that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended death by firing squad for Hasan, which Trump approved. Trump has said that he would be making a decision ultimately on whether the execution would be livestreamed. Christa Pike’s failed execution and Jamaal Howard’s deathLeo’s remarks come days after Christa Pike’s failed execution attempt. She was subsequently put on a ventilator, with hospital staff working to save her life and clear the pentobarbital she was administered from her system. She received two doses of the drug in a failed attempt by the state of Tennessee to execute her on Wednesday, September 30. She later regained consciousness and began speaking. She was discharged from hospital and sent back to the prison where she has spent the last 30 years, and is continuing to receive medical care, according to a statement from her lawyers, the BBC reported. Also Read | Carissa Hansen: Who is Christa Pike's biological mother and where is she now? Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 in connection with the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 20 at the time. Meanwhile, Texas executed 46-year-old Jamaal Howard by lethal injection on Wednesday evening, October 7, which became the first execution in the United States after Pike’s failed execution. He was given a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville, and was pronounced dead at 20:03 local time. Howard was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2000 murder of a convenience store clerk during a robbery committed by him. He was 20 years old when he shot Vickie Swartout, 42, who was working at a convenience store in Texas. Howard stole a carton of cigarettes and $114 from the register.