I have grappled with the death penalty for years. The desire to see evil punished is real because I’m human. Nidal Hasan, an Army major and psychiatrist, walked into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood in 2009. Unarmed service members stood in line there for medical clearances, immunizations, and vaccinations as they prepared to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq. He shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire deliberately targeting his fellow soldiers who were about to go overseas. He killed 13 people—12 soldiers and one civilian—and wounded more than 30 others. Among the dead was a pregnant soldier who had begged for the life of her unborn child. When I think of that pregnant woman pleading for her baby and of the men and women he shot while they waited for vaccines before deployment, the instinct for justice rises strongly in me. But, my views on the death penalty have changed because I am a Catholic and a daughter of the Church. I agree with the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, revised under Pope Francis. Paragraph 2267 and what it states is in the comments below.  With that said, I understand that the Trump administration and Secretary Hegseth are not Catholics. They are not bound to think with the mind of the Church, and I do not expect them to. Still, I do not believe a public, livestreamed execution of Nidal Hasan will happen.  Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but it’s my prayer that it doesn’t The talk of making it public seems mainly a deterrent messags…bringing the long-delayed consequences of the 2009 attack into the open and signaling seriousness about attacks on U.S. service member rather than a fixed plan. The history of the case supports this. Hasan was convicted and sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013. Direct appeals ended, and the Supreme Court declined review in 2025. Presidential approval and an Army-scheduled date of December 3, 2026, at Fort Hood by firing squad are now in place. He can still ask a regular federal court to review his case and potentially stop or delay the execution which will probably happen. In other military death-penalty cases, that process has caused multi-year delays even after presidential approval. Legal observers say further challenges are likely, especially around a public or livestreamed military execution, which has no modern precedent in the United States. Trump has endorsed the firing-squad sentence but has not firmly committed to the livestream. He has said he will decide on broadcasting it and has noted the military’s preferences. The gravity of what he did, especially targeting soldiers preparing to deploy and the pregnant woman who begged for her child’s life, I have to humbly admit, makes me desire the death sentence. Many won’t agree, but as Christians, we are no longer under an eye-for-an-eye standard. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek—not as naive passivity that forbids legitimate self-defense or protecting the innocent, but as a higher call that refuses to make vengeance the final word. I do not desire a full theological debate; I simply remain a daughter of the Church forming my conscience accordingly. The administration’s approach looks like strong messaging meant to deter and to highlight long-delayed justice for the Fort Hood victims, while the practical path still faces legal process and internal political limits. Whether the sentence is carried out, and under what conditions, depends on those realities. This man committed a profound evil against our service members, and justice requires accountability. At the same time, I continue to pray that any response stays consistent with the dignity the Church calls us to uphold. I’d rather the Trump admin publicly show a video of a pre-born baby being executed in the womb, fighting to escape the abortionist’s tools (73 million of these happen worldwide) and that might finally wake people up to the human lives they claim to value, but I digress.