OKC archbishop criticizes Hegseth

Carla Hinton

The Oklahoman USA TODAY NETWORK

Coakley calls livestream of execution ‘barbaric’

Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, the leader of an influential coalition of American bishops and a staunch opponent of the death penalty, condemned Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream a mass shooter’s execution, calling it a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death.”

Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he felt “shock and great sorrow” when he learned that Hegseth planned to make the military execution of former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan available for the public to view. Hegseth told the news and entertainment outlet Real America’s Voice about his plans for the execution by firing squad of Hasan, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2013 for killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 others in 2009 at the Fort Hood military base (renamed Fort Cavazos in 2023) in Texas.

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” Hegseth told Real America’s Voice on Oct. 8. “Because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things.” Hegseth also said the execution, planned for Dec. 3, will be the first military execution by firing squad since World War II.

Coakley

Hegseth

“We know what it is — it is a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks,” Hegseth said in a Real America’s Voice video interview about Hasan’s killing spree.

According to USA TODAY, Hegseth confirmed that the execution would be livestreamed by replying to a CBS News report on X and saying “correct.”

In his statement, Coakley urged Hegseth to reconsider his decision.

“The 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,” the archbishop said in a statement posted to social media on Friday, Oct. 9.

“Our God is the God of life. In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”

Coakley an outspoken critic of the death penalty

Coakley has been one of the more outspoken opponents of the death penalty in Oklahoma since he became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, appointed in 2010.

A member of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said Coakley has been steadfast in his opposition to the death penalty, so his condemnation of the U.S. military’s plan to livestream an execution came as no surprise.

“He has always been outspoken about it — it’s part of their (Roman Catholic) social teaching,” the Rev. Don Heath said.

The Edmond-area pastor said the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and other Oklahomans who oppose the death penalty held a news conference on World Day Against the Death Penalty, the same day that Hegseth announced plans for Hasan’s livestreamed execution.

“They’re very imaginative in their use of cruelty,” Heath said of Hegseth and other government leaders who support his idea.

“I think it will backfire,” he said of the planned livestream execution. “I don’t think it will have the consequences they want.”

An Oklahoman running for public office disagreed with Heath and Coakley, according to his statement on social media.

“PUBLIC EXECUTION,” T.W. Shannon, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, said in a post on X.

“It took far too long to get here, but justice finally shall be done thanks to the strong leadership of @Potus and @SecWar Hegseth. The Islamic terrorist who sh0t (sic) and klled (sic) so many of our troops will himself be put to the firing squad, for all the world to see.”

While he has praised President Donald Trump and his administration on some matters, Coakley, who met with the president in January, has also been vocal in his opposition to some of the administration’s actions since he was elected to serve as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 2025. The group is an official assembly of active and retired Catholic bishops in the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In March 2026, Coakley thanked Trump and his administration for modifying the R-1 visa rules which brought relief to religious workers in Oklahoma and around the country, after the archbishop had requested the changes.

But, in April 2026, the archbishop spoke out against Trump’s verbal attack Pope Leo XIV, during a rapidly evolving — and unprecedented — exchange of words between an American president and the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Soon after, Coakley urged Trump to pull back from war efforts against Iran in favor of peace.

More recently, Coakley urged Trump to halt deportations to Haiti, where violence and instability have increased, in a statement released in September.

In his statement on Oct. 9, the archbishop invoked scripture to make his case against the Pentagon’s plans to livestream a military execution.

“The word of God exhorts us: ‘do not repay anyone evil for evil,’ ” Coakley said, quoting Romans 12:17.

“I pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel that we as a nation may always choose life even in the most trying times and circumstances.”