This is the article that appeared in the October 2024 edition of Catalyst, our monthly journal. The date that prints out reflects the day that it was uploaded to our website. For a more accurate date of when the article was first published, check out the news release, here.
Pope Francis recently ripped into Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, saying American voters were stuck with choosing “the lesser evil.”
He condemned Harris’ support for abortion rights as being an “assassination,” and he condemned Trump for his position on illegal immigration, saying “not welcoming the migrant is a sin.”
The Catholic Church regards certain acts to be “intrinsically evil.” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before he became Pope Benedict XVI, wrote that “Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia.”
He said it was acceptable for a Catholic to disagree with the pope on issues such as war and capital punishment, adding that “he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion.” But that was not true of abortion or euthanasia.
The bishops’ conference also singles out abortion and euthanasia as being among the most non-negotiable issues. Other examples include genocide, torture, racism, and the targeting of noncombatants in acts of terror or war. They are always wrong.
Stopping migrants from entering a country illegally was not mentioned by either Pope Benedict nor the bishops.
Harris’ position on abortion is identical to that of President Biden. Yet after Biden met with the pope in 2021, he told the press, “We just talked about the fact he was happy I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving communion.”
Catholics will have to sort all of this out in November.
