NEW YORK, September 28, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — “It is time for repentance” more than political debates and polls, Priests for Life National Director Father Frank Pavone said before the first presidential debate Monday.
“As debates about issues, policies, and polls dominate the airwaves today, we at Priests for Life want to raise the call for repentance,” Pavone said. “In particular, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party need to repent of their unmitigated support of abortion, which kills over a million babies in America every year.”
Pavone said, “This is not merely a debate about what government should or shouldn't do, but about what kind of government we have. What kind of authority do we give a candidate when we elect him or her? Do they have veto power over human rights? Can they authorize the killing of even a single baby?”
The questions that Pavone raised are similar to the ones he asked Catholics to consider in a series of interviews with LifeSiteNews about the 2016 election. He said that in no way can a Catholic justify voting for a pro-abortion politician, no matter how good he or she might seem on other issues.
“If life doesn’t matter, you don’t have any issues,” he explained.
“The last thing abortion-supporting candidates, like Hillary Clinton, or abortion-supporting parties, like the Democratic Party, want to discuss is abortion,” Pavone continued. “They do not want to show it or even describe it, because they know that if they do so, people will reject it.”
“Yes, it is time for debates, polls, and elections. But more fundamentally, it is time for repentance,” he continued. “No government can authorize the killing of a baby, and we deserve to know whether those who ask for our vote acknowledge that. After all, if they cannot respect the life of a little baby, how can they respect ours?”
Neither candidate nor moderator Lester Holt mentioned abortion in Monday night’s debate. There are two more presidential debates scheduled for October 9 and October 19.