Pope Francis on Friday criticised former US President Donald Trump over his plan to deport millions of immigrants and Vice President Kamala Harris for supporting abortion rights.
Asked about the U.S. presidential election on a flight back to Rome from Singapore, the pope said not welcoming immigrants was a “grave” sin, and compared abortion to “murder.”
He said, without elaborating, that American Catholics “must choose the lesser evil” when they vote in November.
Francis was speaking at a press conference with reporters after a busy 12-day trip to Southeast Asia and Oceania. Although the Pope did not use Trump and Harris by name, he specifically mentioned their policies and their gender. Despite criticizing both candidates, he said Catholics should vote.
“Not voting is ugly. It’s not good. You must vote,” the 87-year-old pope said.
“You have to choose the lesser evil,” he said. “Who is the lesser evil? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everybody has to think and do that, with conscience.”
American Catholics, who number about 52 million nationwide, are often seen as crucial swing voters. In some battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, more than 20% of adults are Catholic.
Francis, the leader of about 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, is usually cautious about expressing his views in national political elections. But he often sharply criticizes abortion, which is forbidden by Catholic teaching. He has previously criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. During the 2016 election, he said Trump was “not Christian” in his views.
On Friday, Francis said both candidates’ policies were “against life.”
“Whether it’s the person who is chasing away migrants, or the person who is killing children, both are against life,” the Pope said.
Trump has promised that if he is elected for a second term as president, he will crack down on illegal immigration and deport millions of immigrants already in the US. He has also refused to build detention camps for illegal immigrants.
Harris has promised to sign any legislation passed by Congress to restore national protections for access to abortion, which the Supreme Court struck down in the 2022 Dobbs decision.
The two candidates debated both issues in their first debate together on Wednesday. Most polls show a close contest, with Harris holding a slight lead.
The pope called immigration “a right,” citing biblical passages that name orphans, widows and foreigners as three types of people society should care for. “It is a sin not to welcome migrants,” the pope said. “It is serious.”
Francis said abortion is “the murder of a human being.” There can be no excuse for abortion, he said. “It is murder,” he said. “We must speak clearly on these matters. No ‘but’ or ‘however.'”
Balancing political priorities has become a topic of discussion among the U.S. bishops, who have issued similar election guidance, with some updates, in each presidential election cycle since 2007-08.
Their latest version, released in November 2023 with a new introduction, states that the “threat of abortion” is a “top priority” for Catholics.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
