Rome — Pope Francis weighed in on voters’ choices on Friday. 2024 US Presidential ElectionThe pope told reporters on the plane returning from his marathon Asia tour that both Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, are, in his view, “pro-life.”
CBS News asked what he would advise Catholic voters to do if they were forced to choose. Candidates who support abortion rights And there’s someone who said he’d make $11 million. expelled immigrants“Both those who abandon migrants and those who kill children are anti-life,” the Pope said.
The Pope addressed two topics that featured prominently in the presidential address. Harris and Trump Debate On Tuesday night, he was interviewing reporters on a flight from Singapore to Jakarta, before returning to Rome after a 12-day, 20,000-mile trip. Asia Pacific Tour.
Simone Risoluti/Getty
Asked whether there were circumstances in which it would be morally permissible for a Catholic to vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights, Pope Francis responded that, given political morality, “one should vote.”
“You must choose the lesser of two evils,” he said. “Which of the two evils is the lesser? The lady or the gentleman, I don’t know.”
Pope Francis says American Catholic voters should examine their conscience and make a decision before going to the polls.
“We must make it clear that it is a sin to expel immigrants, to deny them the ability to work, to not welcome them. It is a serious sin,” the pope said.
Francis repeatedly noted that immigration is a right that dates back to biblical times, and that in the Bible’s Old Testament, the people of Israel had a “duty to care for orphans, widows, and strangers – that is, immigrants.”
Pope Francis also reiterated the Catholic Church’s position that abortion is murder.
“Whether you like the word or not, it’s murder,” he said. “It’s assassination, and we have to be clear on that.”
