(Population Research Institute) — I have long regarded this papacy as a kind of penance.
From its sacrifice of the Underground Church in China to its suppression of the Latin Mass, from its dalliance with Masonry to its relentless sermonizing about climate change and our collective sins, it has at times seemed to be nothing more than a collection of missteps, a dreary litany of unforced errors.
But there are times when Pope Francis speaks the truth. (Even a broken clock is right twice a day, as a priest friend of mine wryly remarked to me.)
And Francis spoke true on his way back to Rome after a two-week trip to Asia when he insisted that all American Catholics must vote in the upcoming election.
“One must vote,” he insisted.
So far, so good. Anyone who does not vote in this election because of perceived flaws in both candidates is allowing a greater evil to prevail.
It’s all downhill from there, however. CBS News reporter Anna Matranga had framed the issue facing voters as a choice between abortion and deportation.
“What advice would you give to an American voter who has to decide between a candidate who is in favor of abortion and another who wants to deport millions of migrants,” Matranga had asked.
Francis responded by insisting that abortion and deportation were equally evil and refused to choose between the two.
“Both are against life,” he said. “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.”
After talking about his trip to the American border — as if that still exists — the Pope again defended unfettered immigration by saying, “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.”
But the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear that migration is not an unconditional right but rather one that is contingent upon the ability of a country to receive them (Para. 2241). It’s pretty clear that many American communities have already reached a saturation point given the 20 million or so who have swarmed across the border under the Biden-Harris administration.
The same paragraph of the Catechism contains an even clearer rejection of Francis’ position, saying, “Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carry civic burdens.”
Illegal aliens, by definition, do not respect America’s laws. If they did, they wouldn’t be here.
On the question of abortion, however, the Holy Father was precisely on point.
“Science says that at one month after conception, all the organs of a human being are present,” he said. “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!”
Despite his fervent defense of the unborn, Francis still refused to choose between abortion and deportation.
He simply concluded, “One must choose the lesser of two evils. Who is the lesser of two evils, that lady or that gentleman, I do not know.”
“The lesser evil” refers to the Church’s age-old teaching that, when faced with two evils, the lesser one is always to be chosen (De duobus malis, minor est semper eligendum). I believe it was first expressed in that masterpiece of spiritual writing, The Imitation of Christ (book III, chapter 12), by Thomas a Kempis.
In a democracy, we often face a choice between two candidates neither of whom are wholly aligned with the Church’s position on fundamental “nonnegotiable” issues such as the sanctity of life, the indissolubility of marriage, and religious freedom. In that case, the “lesser evil” principle requires us to cast our vote against the candidate who would do the most harm.
It is important to note that, in casting a vote for a flawed candidate, we are not choosing evil, which we are called to reject. Rather, we are rejecting it in its most dangerous, malignant, and deadly form.
Francis may not know whether abortion is a greater evil than deportation, but the U.S. bishops certainly do.
In their updated voters guide, the bishops state, “The threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks our most vulnerable and voiceless brothers and sisters and destroys more than a million lives per year in our country alone.”
In a perfect world, we would have a perfect candidate. But we live in a fallen world, with flawed candidates.
So, as Pope Francis suggests, decide for yourself whether Kamala Harris, who wants abortion up to birth and beyond, or Donald Trump, who wants to deport millions of illegal aliens, is the lesser evil.
And vote, as soon as you are able to in the state where you live. Vote.
Steven W. Mosher is the president of the Population Research Institute.
