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from https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-trump-harris-election-0e0faef49ff587098f75b265e386bf22

Pope slams both Harris and Trump as ‘against life’ and urges Catholics
to vote for ‘lesser evil’
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Updated 2:07 PM PDT, September 13, 2024
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ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis on Friday slammed both U.S. presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on
abortion and migration, and he advised American Catholics to choose who
they think is the “lesser evil” in the upcoming U.S. elections.

“Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it
the one who kills babies,″ Francis said.

The Argentine Jesuit was asked to provide counsel to American Catholic
voters during an airborne news conference while he flew back to Rome
from his four-nation tour through Asia. Francis stressed that he is not
an American and would not be voting.

Neither Republican candidate Donald Trump nor the Democratic candidate,
Kamala Harris, was mentioned by name.

But Francis nevertheless expressed himself in stark terms when asked to
weigh in on their positions on two hot-button issues in the U.S.
election — abortion and migration — that are also of major concern to
the Catholic Church.

Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his pontificate
and speaks out emphatically and frequently about it. While strongly
upholding church teaching forbidding abortion, Francis has not
emphasized church doctrine as much as his predecessors.

Francis said migration is a right described in Scripture and that anyone
who does not follow the Biblical call to welcome the stranger is
committing a “grave sin.”

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He was also blunt in speaking about abortion. “To have an abortion is to
kill a human being. You may like the word or not, but it’s killing,” he said. “We have to see this clearly.”

Asked what voters should do at the polls, Francis recalled the civic
duty to vote.

“One should vote, and choose the lesser evil,” he said. “Who is the lesser evil, the woman or man? I don’t know.

“Everyone in their conscience should think and do it,” he said.

The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests
for comment from The Associated Press.

U.S. President Joe Biden, an observant Catholic, shares Harris’ strong support for abortion rights, a stance that prompted some Catholic
bishops and other conservatives to call for him to be denied access to Communion.

After meeting Francis in person at the Vatican in October 2021, Biden
came away saying the pope told him he was a “good Catholic” and should continue receiving Communion.

Francis, asked on previous occasions about some U.S. bishops who want to
deny Communion to Biden over his support for abortion rights, has said
bishops should be pastors, not politicians.

Friday’s news conference was not the first time Francis has weighed in
on a U.S. election. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Francis was
asked about Trump’s plan to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Francis declared then that anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants
“is not Christian.”

In responding Friday, Francis recalled that he celebrated Mass at the U.S.-Mexico border and “there were so many shoes of the migrants who
ended up badly there.”

Trump pledges massive deportations, just as he did in his first White
House bid, when there was a vast gulf between his ambitions and the
legal, financial and political realities of such an undertaking.

The U.S. bishops conference, for its part, has called abortion the “preeminent priority” for American Catholics in its published voter
advice. Harris has strongly defended abortion rights and has emphasized
support for reinstating a federal right to abortion.

In his comments, the pope added: “On abortion, science says that a month
from conception, all the organs of a human being are already there, all
of them. Performing an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you
like the word or not, this is killing. You can’t say the church is
closed because it does not allow abortion. The church does not allow
abortion because it’s killing. It is murder.”

However, cells are only beginning the process of developing into organs
in the earliest weeks of pregnancy. For example, cardiac tissue starts
to form in the first two months — initially a tube that only later
evolves into the four chambers that define a heart. The American College
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that by 13 weeks, all major
organs have formed.

In other comments, Francis:

— denied a French media report that he would travel to Paris for the
December inauguration of the restored Notre Dame Cathedral, saying
flat-out he would not be there. But he confirmed he would like to go to
the Canary Islands to highlight the plight of migrants.

— tamped down renewed speculation that he might finally return to
Argentina later this year, saying he wants to go but that nothing had
been decided. He added: “There are various things to resolve first.” Francis has not been home since before the 2013 conclave that elected
him pope.

— declared that China was “a promise and a hope” for the Catholic Church and hoped to one day visit.

— called sexual abuse “demonic” and weighed on the latest revelations of assault against a legendary French priest, Abbe Pierre.
___
AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed to this report. ___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly
Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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