Catholics must choose the \u201clesser evil\u201d between the pro-abortion Harris and the anti-migrant Trump, the pontiff has said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are both \u201cagainst life,\u201d and Catholic voters should choose the \u201clesser evil,\u201d Pope Francis told reporters on Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking to reporters while returning to Rome from Singapore, the pontiff said that \u201cnot voting is ugly,\u201d and that the faithful \u201cmust vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou must choose the lesser evil,\u201d he elaborated. \u201cWho is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don\u2019t know. Whether it is the one who is chasing away migrants, or the one that kills children, both are against life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If elected, Trump has promised to close off the US\u2019 southern border and lead \u201cthe largest deportation operation in American history.\u201d Harris has vowed to sign a law guaranteeing the same access to abortion as under Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court decision that was overturned in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roe v. Wade protected a woman\u2019s right to seek an abortion, but certain restrictions on this right \u2013 for instance, bans on abortion past the second trimester of pregnancy \u2013 were set out in subsequent legislation. Harris\u2019 running mate, Tim Walz, signed a bill<\/a> in 2023 allowing abortions to be performed up to the moment of birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo send migrants away, to leave them wherever you want, to leave them \u2026 it\u2019s something terrible, there is evil there. To send away a child from the womb of the mother is an assassination, because there is life. We must speak about these things clearly,\u201d Pope Francis told reporters on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pontiff has consistently opposed abortion, in line with Catholic teaching. However, he has allowed priests to forgive abortions, and urged bishops not to deny communion to politicians who support the practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has also taken a more liberal stance on immigration-related issues than his predecessors. During the 2016 presidential election, he criticized Trump\u2019s proposal to wall off the US\/Mexico border as \u201cnot Christian,\u201d and in 2019 the Vatican donated<\/a> $500,000 to 75,000 Central American migrants attempting to reach the US via Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n