The bishop of Saint Augustine (FL) has urged Catholic voters to prioritize the right to life in the upcoming U.S. elections.
As the elections approach, “issues of life are under attack, and they appear in our national conversation and laws in terrible ways, as threats to the unborn (abortion), and as threats to the vulnerable, the disabled, and the elderly (euthanasia or assisted suicide), writes Bishop Felipe J. Estévez in an Oct. 7 letter to the faithful.
“The Church teaches that abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide, as direct attacks on innocent human life, are all intrinsically evil – always and everywhere profoundly immoral,” Bishop Estévez writes. “And preeminent among these is the most fundamental threat to the beginning of life itself – abortion.”
The bishop also notes that Catholics do not favor pro-life candidates and parties just because their faith demands it, but because of their duty as citizens to fight injustice and defend human rights.
“Pope Francis has made it clear that if we fail to protect life, no other rights matter,” Bishop Estévez writes. “He also said that abortion is not primarily a Catholic or even a religious issue: it is first and foremost a human rights issue.”
“All too often, we hear people say: As a matter of faith, I am against abortion, but I cannot impose my belief on others,” the bishop continues. “It is not a matter of imposing a belief, but of being committed to the truth about human life, which, as biological science confirms, begins at conception.”
“Those who argue otherwise are not committed to reason, but the false belief that there are some human beings not deserving of the protection of our laws,” he adds.
The bishop also rejects the claim that focusing on abortion makes a person a single-issue voter, arguing that certain issues will always be weightier than others.
“The Church will always act to promote the dignity and value of every human life from conception to natural death,” he states. “We care about both mothers and their children, born and unborn, as well as the poor, the immigrant, the sick, the disabled, the elderly, those who are marginalized, and those on death row.”
Estévez writes that in its steadfast defense of innocent life, the Catholic Church is aligned with the Declaration of Independence that asserts the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The Founding Fathers put the right to life in the first place, he adds, because they “knew that the right to life surpassed all others in importance: without the right to life, none of the other rights could be protected. The right to life was, and is, preeminent.”
“This election, at both the federal and state level, will shape the future of our nation for generations to come,” the bishop declares.
“Since politics is about securing justice in society, it is a fundamentally moral activity,” he states. “As Catholics, our belief is that there are fundamental truths about the human person and society that are accessible to both faith and reason.”
“This is a difficult time in our nation and a critical time to not only exercise your right to vote but to do so with the utmost integrity,” he concludes.
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