ROME, Italy — Pope Francis told journalists Friday that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are both “against life” and Americans will need to choose in conscience next November which is “the lesser evil.”
During his flight returning from Singapore to Rome, the pontiff was asked what advice he would give a Catholic voter faced with the choice between “a candidate who supports ending a pregnancy and another who wants to deport 11 million migrants” in the upcoming U.S. elections.
“Both are against life: the one that throws out migrants and the one that kills children,” the pope replied. “Both are against life. I can’t decide; I’m not American and won’t go to vote there.”
“But let it be clear,” he continued, “denying migrants the ability to work and receive hospitality is a sin, a grave sin.”
“The Old Testament speaks repeatedly of the orphan, the widow, and the stranger—migrants,” he said. “These are the three that Israel must care for. Failing to care for migrants is a sin, a sin against life and humanity.”
Francis went on to recall that he celebrated Mass at the U.S.-Mexico border, near the diocese of El Paso, where many migrants’ shoes who “ended poorly” were displayed.
He noted that there is a flow of migration within Central America, and many times “they are treated like slaves because people take advantage of the situation.”
“Migration is a right,” he contended, “and it was already present in Sacred Scripture and in the Old Testament. The stranger, the orphan, and the widow—do not forget this.”
Not stopping there, the pope went on to address the question of abortion.
“Science says that at one month after conception, all the organs of a human being are present. Everything,” he said. “Having an abortion is killing a human being.”
“Whether you like the word or not, it’s murder,” he asserted. “The Church is not closed-minded because it forbids abortion; the Church forbids abortion because it kills. It is murder; it is murder!”
Seeming to suggest a moral equivalence between murder of an innocent and denying entry to a migrant at the border, the pope said that neither seemed to take precedence.
“We need to be clear about this,” he said. “Sending migrants away, not allowing them to grow, not letting them have life is something wrong, it is cruelty.”
“Sending a child away from the womb of the mother is murder because there is life,” he continued. “And we must speak clearly about these things.”
“Both things are clear. The orphan, the stranger, and the widow—do not forget this,” he said.
Pushed as to whether there are circumstances in which it is morally permissible to vote for a candidate who is in favor of abortion, the pope demurred.
“In political morality, it is generally said that not voting is ugly, it’s not good,” he said. “One must vote.”
“And one must choose the lesser evil,” he continued. “Which is the lesser evil? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know; each person must think and decide according to their own conscience.”
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