Picking Our Poison With Pope Francis

Whenever Pope Francis holds an interview on a plane, Catholics have learned to buckle up for turbulence. But on his way back from Singapore last Friday, after a lengthy trip to Southeast Asia and Oceania, the Holy Father answered a question pertaining to American politics with uncharacteristic and refreshing clarity—though not without a touch of his off-the-cuffism, which often seems to cover more ground than orthodoxy does. 

Francis shot straight in telling Catholic America it has a choice between two evils this election, for both candidates hold an evil position regarding human life. This is absolutely the case with Kamala Harris and not necessarily the case with Donald Trump—but the pope has spoken truly regarding the American culture of death and the Catholic political attitude.

The pope’s rough critique of Trump and Harris has really made the rounds in the news platforms with a swirling that we haven’t seen since “Who am I to judge?” And it is strange, since what Francis said directly contradicts the prevalent messaging on abortion. But what he also said about migration, second only to abortion, may have been enough to further the Left’s narrative, and hence their strategy, to secure the White House.

Included here is the entire exchange between Anna Matranga of CBS News and Pope Francis, as most sources are simply quoting it in fragments throughout their columns:

AM: Your Holiness, you have always spoken in defense of the dignity of life. In Timor-Leste, which has a high birth rate, you said you felt life pulsing and exploding with so many children. In Singapore, you defended migrant workers. With the US elections coming up, what advice would you give a Catholic voter faced with a candidate who supports ending a pregnancy and another who wants to deport 11 million migrants?

PF: Both are against life: the one that throws out migrants and the one that kills children. Both are against life. I can’t decide; I’m not American and won’t go to vote there. But let it be clear: 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. These are the three that Israel must care for. Failing to care for migrants is a sin, a sin against life and humanity.

I celebrated Mass at the border, near the diocese of El Paso. There were many shoes from migrants, who ended poorly there. Today, 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, and it was already present in Sacred Scripture and in the Old Testament. The stranger, the orphan, and the widow—do not forget this.

Then, abortion. Science says that at one month after conception, all the organs of a human being are present. Everything. Having an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you like the word or not, it’s murder. The Church is not closed-minded because it forbids abortion; the Church forbids abortion because it kills. It is murder; it is murder!

And we need to be clear about this: 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. And we must speak clearly about these things. “No, but however...” No “but however.” Both things are clear. The orphan, the stranger, and the widow—do not forget this.

AM: In your opinion, Your Holiness, are there circumstances in which it is morally permissible to vote for a candidate who is in favor of abortion?

PF: In political morality, it is generally said that not voting is ugly, it’s not good. One must vote. And one must choose the lesser evil. 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.

Contrary to what some Catholics are arguing on social media, the pope gives solid answers here, and all Catholic Americans should take note as this regards the moral choice between our more-or-less evil presidential candidates. A strong adjective there—to be clear, the choice involves evil, which is not to say that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are necessarily evil people (that is for the Lord to judge), but evil lurks on their tickets. 

Pope Francis called that spade a spade, with advice according to the Church’s long-standing position. When faced with two political candidates who are not aligned with Catholic fundamentals, it is permissible to cast a vote against the candidate who would do the most harm. Pope Francis is reminding us of our religious and civic duty, therefore, to act against the greater evil by choosing the lesser.

Thankfully, our pope has spoken unconditionally and forcefully about the abortion crisis. You don’t hear people call abortion murder every day, and it is invigorating to hear it from the pope. His stance on immigration is also largely correct, though he may go too far suggesting the position of the Trump campaign is gravely sinful. Context is obviously important in weighing immigration cases and situations. While abortion is always evil, immigration laws can be good. You don’t hear people call abortion murder every day, and it is invigorating to hear it from the pope.Tweet This

Catholic social teaching upholds three principles regarding immigration. First, every person has the right to migrate to protect their life and the lives of their family members. Second, every country has the right to defend its borders and to govern the immigration process in preserving the common welfare. Third, every country must regulate its immigration laws with justice and mercy.

It’s not immediately clear that Trump has anything in mind beyond these principles, though he talks a big game regarding illegal immigrants. The presence of mercy may sound dubious when proposing to deport 11 million migrants. But justice there could well be, even in such an extreme plan. The laws can be enforced, and they should be in order to give proper priority of opportunity and security to citizens.

Still, Catholics have an obligation to give succor to the poor and beleaguered, and neglecting that corporal work of mercy could be sinful in some circumstances. Pope Francis has often been critical of wealthy countries and their restrictive immigration policies, but he paints with too broad a brush when he says that there is something evil at work in Trump’s plan. He denounced Trump before, back in 2016, calling his migrant views un-Christian, wishing that he would build bridges instead of walls.

But the pope is right when he says that both abortion and immigration are matters of life. And it is here where the attention of the media outlets is curious. While they usually eat out of Francis’ hand given the chameleon quality of much of what he says, using it as evidence of alleged Catholic evolution to progressive ideologies, they are giving him headlines here even though he’s saying things about abortion that they can’t qualify or spin. Liberals will agree about his attitude regarding immigration, true, but their humanitarian sympathies do not extend so far as the womb, as Francis insists they should.

So why all the reporting if it’s a message that could retard the attempts to pressure even Catholics in sweeping the evil of abortion under the rug? There is resonance in the immigration position, and that may be enough. It may be a calculated move to highlight an instance where the pope has suggested that Trump is evil because of his attitude toward migrants. He said Catholics must choose the lesser of two evils between Trump and Harris, implying in part that Trump is evil—and the media will take that all the way to the bank and risk running the story.

Of course, the same could be leveled at Harris, but she doesn’t have the same lightning-rod stigma as the bad, name-calling orange man. She may be awkward or even incompetent, but hey, she “grew up a middle-class kid” and her “opportunity economics” will find a “new path forward” “unburdened by what has been” and pass the word salad. Is she the lesser evil? Does she seem better than that mean old Trump? (It’s worth a CNN weekend splash because, after all, the abortion debate is in the bag anyway and no one is going to buy equating it to murder.)

And Catholics are taking the bait, too, as they drift in droves over to the Harris side, even though she will do all in her presidential power to make abortion loom larger in this nation than Trump would. He’s far from perfect, of course, and he may be pushing an immigration agenda that will fail in seasoning justice with mercy, but at least he’s not trying to specifically promote cruelty, vulnerable voters, and cultural depravity.

Catholics should jump on these comments from Francis, talk and write about them, and share them widely, emphasizing their black and white sides that he often seems to draw together in a soft syncretism of niceties and nonsense. Abortion is murder. Immigration is a Catholic concern. But we have candidates who, on one side, will seek to re-enshrine unrestricted abortion on the federal level, and on the other side, may cause suffering and displacement to many who need help. The question, as the pope says, should be more of who are we voting against as opposed to who are we voting for.

Pope Francis has put abortion and rigorous immigration policies in the same category of protecting life—and he’s right to do that. As Catholics, we must be open to and active in the succor of those in trouble, but we should not be tolerant of lawlessness or chaos in the process of that duty. While this is a matter of life, it is not as grievous and grotesque as the matter of life that abortion is. Full stop.

This is a striking moment where Pope Francis has distanced himself from the radical Left by standing by what the Church teaches. Though they are still using him to somehow further their purposes, this is an opportunity for Catholics to make the greatest evil in our political times crystal clear to those who are turning a blind eye instead of being moral leaders. There are no two ways about it, and there is only one way that Catholics must vote. Pick your poison.

[Photo Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA]