He encouraged Americans to vote (Picture: Getty)
Pope Francis has advised Catholics to choose a ‘lesser evil’ when selecting their presidential candidate in a rare political comment.
The pontiff did not refer to candidates Kamala Harris or Donald Trump by name in his comments, but said not welcoming migrants was a ‘grave’ sin and compared Harris’ abortion stance to an ‘assassination’.
‘Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies’, the Pope said, Vatican News reported.
Pope Francis was asked to consult Catholic voters in America but made it clear in his remarks that he was not an American and wouldn’t be voting.
‘Not voting is ugly. It is not good. You must vote,’ he said during the in-flight news conference as he finished his 12-day tour through southeast Asia.
‘You must choose the lesser evil. Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, [has to] think and do this.’
The Pope did not refer to either candidate by name in his comments (Picture: AFP or licensors)
The Catholic leader has often criticised abortion, which is against his religious practice.
‘Forcing a child from the mother’s womb is an assassination because there is life there,’ he said.
However, the 87-year-old has been slowly pushing for once-taboo subjects for religious conservatives, such as atheism and immigration.
The Catholic leader has been critical of Trump’s immigration stance for quite some time, describing him as ‘not Christian’ during his 2016 presidential election because of his anti-immigrant language.
‘Expelling migrants, not letting them develop, not letting them have a life is an ugly thing, it’s mean,’ The Pope said.
If re-elected, the former president has promised a ‘crackdown’ on immigration and vowed to deport millions.
Roe V Wade was overturned in 2022 by the Supreme Court(Picture: Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)
As part of Harris’ campaign, she has promised to protect access to abortion nationwide, after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.
This is not the first time the Pope has revealed his political stance.
In 2023, the religious leader was questioned on whether blessing LGBTQ+ people could be done without altering the church’s teaching on marriage in a ‘dubia’.
A dubia is a formal request for clarity on how the Vatican stands on an issue.
Although he referred to Catholicism’s understanding of marriage as ‘an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to procreation’, he also advocated for ‘pastoral clarity’.
‘The defence of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity; it also includes kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness and encouragement,’ he said.
‘Therefore, we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude.’
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