By Tony Magliano –
During his flight from Singapore to Rome – after his whirlwind pastoral visit to countries in Asia and Oceania – Pope Francis was asked by a CBS News journalist what advice he would give to Catholic voters in the upcoming U.S. presidential election when “faced with a candidate who supports ending a pregnancy and another who wants to deport 11 million migrants?”
Pope Francis clearly and courageously responded, “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.”
Reflecting on his visit to the Mexico-U.S. border Pope Francis said, “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 to the point of abortion, the Holy Farther said, “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!”
“One must choose the lesser of two evils,” he said. “Who is the lesser of two evils, that lady or that gentleman, I do not know.”
And I do not know either.
And the dilemma Catholics with well-formed consciences face here gets even more difficult when we also consider the many other life issues – which we must!
Although the U.S. provides more weapons, to more nations, and thus fuels more wars than any other country, neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump plan to seriously take steps to reverse course here.And with the most dangerous nuclear arsenal – along with the Russian Federation – neither U.S. presidential candidate is committed to multilateral nuclear disarmament.
And what about the genocide of Gazans by the Israeli government and military being fueled by American weapons? Neither Harris nor Trump have promised to end U.S. military support, and fully press for an immediate ceasefire.
As the Russia-Ukraine/NATO war continues with no end in sight, and with NATO long-range missiles now in place to strike deep into Russia – the world is closer than most people realize to nuclear Armageddon. Yet again, neither Harris nor Trump have expressed a solid plan to quickly negotiate a peaceful exit ramp.
According to the World Food Program 42 million people in 45 countries are on the brink of starvation. And yet the U.S. gives less than 1% of its annual national budget for international anti-poverty/anti-hunger relief. Again, neither Harris nor Trump have voiced a commitment to drastically increase international aid to the poor and end world hunger.
And sadly again, neither presidential candidate has seriously expressed warning about the scientifically based global threat of climate change (see: https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/) and what bold actions she or he plans to take to move from global warming fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas) to clean sun, wind, geo-thermal and wave energy.
There are many other life issues that neither presidential candidate has addressed in a way that is compatible with the Gospel and Catholic social teaching.
I long and pray for the day when people in the U.S., as well as people of all nations, will not be faced with the stark choice of having to “choose the lesser of two evils.” When instead, the tough choice will be determining who is best between two wonderfully, highly moral, consistently life-affirming, peacemaking political candidates!
Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at [email protected].