Pope Francis Weighs In on Presidential Race: ‘One Must Choose the Lesser Evil’

Pope Francis criticized both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on Friday after being asked who he thought Americans should vote for in November.

The head of the Catholic Church described both candidates as being “against life” when fielding questions from reporters, Vatican News reported.

Anna Matranga with CBS News noted he had been staunchly anti-abortion and asked him, “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?” Pope Francis replied:

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.

In a follow-up, Matranga asked the pope if it would be “morally permissible” for American Catholics to vote for any candidate who is not opposed to abortion.

Francis portrayed the 2024 election as a binary choice where Americans would need to choose the candidate they found less “evil.”

“In political morality, it is generally said that not voting is ugly, it’s not good,” he said. “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.”

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