CNN
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Pope Francis on Friday described the selection US voters should make within the presidential election as one between the “lesser of two evils,” deeming former President Donald Trump’s anti-migrant insurance policies and Vice President Kamala Harris’ help of abortion rights as each being “in opposition to life.”
“One should select the lesser of two evils. Who’s the lesser of two evils? That woman or that gentleman? I don’t know,” Francis stated throughout a press convention on the papal aircraft, referring to Harris and Trump. “Everybody with a conscience ought to assume on this and do it.”
Francis has been extra vocal about politics than his predecessors and has moved to make the Catholic Church more open. Whereas he has persistently and strongly defended the Catholic Church’s educating that abortion is the deliberate destruction of a human life, Francis has additionally insisted it can’t be remoted from different points regarding human life, together with immigration.
“To ship migrants away, to depart them wherever you need, to depart them … it’s one thing horrible, there may be evil there. To ship away a toddler from the womb of the mom is an assassination, as a result of there may be life. We should discuss this stuff clearly,” he stated.
Francis has beforehand weighed in on political points, signaling extra progressive stances by permitting monks to forgive abortions, authorizing blessings for same-sex couples and repeatedly warning about climate change.
He has challenged Catholic bishops within the US who’ve insisted that abortion is the “pre-eminent” problem, arguing that the plight of migrants can also be concerning the protection of life. In 2016, Francis described then-presidential candidate Trump’s plan to construct a wall to cease migrants from crossing the US-Mexico border as “not Christian.”
And when bishops had been debating in 2021 whether or not to deny communion to public figures who help abortion rights, together with President Joe Biden, Francis urged them to make their selections from a “pastoral” viewpoint and never a political one. The pope has stated he has by no means denied communion to anybody.
Francis has criticized couples who choose to have pets fairly than kids, aligning with views expressed by Trump’s operating mate, Sen. JD Vance, a transformed Catholic who has derided girls with out children as “childless cat ladies” and described these within the nation’s “management class” who don’t have kids as “extra sociopathic.”
US Catholics even have a variety of views. According to Pew Research, 52% of Catholic registered voters describe themselves as being or leaning Republican, whereas 44% say they’re or lean Democrat.
Catholic voters had been break up in 2020 election, with 50% voting for Biden and 49% supporting Trump, based on Pew. However a majority of Catholics — 61% — consider abortion needs to be authorized in all or most instances.
This story has been up to date with extra reporting.
CNN’s Tom Foreman, Paul LeBlanc, Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck contributed to this report.