Pope on U.S. presidential race: ‘Choose the lesser evil’
FILE-Pope Francis attends his weekly General Audience at the Paul VI Hall on August 09, 2023 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
Pope Francis criticized Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and immigration.
He is also advising American Catholics to choose between the presidential candidate they believe is the "lesser evil" in the November election.
According to the Associated Press, Francis was asked to offer counsel to American Catholic voters on a flight home from Asia Friday as he emphasized that he is not an American and will not vote.
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Francis shared his thoughts on abortion and immigration, two of the key issues in the U.S. election, and topics that are concerns of the Catholic Church. He has made the struggle of migrants a priority in his speeches, while supporting church stances forbidding abortion.
Here's where Harris and Trump stand on the issues of abortion and immigration.
Abortion
What Harris has said
Kamala Harris is pushing Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing in federal law abortion access, a right that stood for almost 50 years before it was overturned by the Supreme Court. The vice president has criticized abortion bans in Republican-controlled states and promised as president to block any potential U.S. ban should one clear a future GOP-run Congress.
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Harris has promoted the Biden administration's efforts short of federal law — including steps to protect women who travel to access the procedure and limit how law enforcement collects medical records.
What Trump has said
Donald Trump has talked about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. After avoiding questions about when, in pregnancy, he believes the procedure should be restricted, the former president announced in 2023 that decisions on access and cutoffs should be left to the states.
Trump said he would not sign a national abortion ban into law and recently said he would not attempt to block access to abortion medication.
The Republican presidential candidate told Time magazine that it should also be left up to states to determine whether to prosecute women for abortions or to monitor their pregnancies. Trump added that if he wins, he wants to make IVF treatment free for women.
Immigration
What Trump has said
Trump has promised to launch the largest domestic deportation in U.S. history — an operation that could involve detention camps and the National Guard.
According to the AP, he has discussed bringing back policies he put in place during his first term as president, including the Remain in Mexico program and Title 42, which placed curbs on migrants on public health grounds. Trump would also restore and expand the travel ban that targeted citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. Trump would also attempt to deport individuals in the U.S. legally but harbor "jihadist sympathies." The AP noted that he would seek to end birthright citizenship for people born in the U.S. whose parents are both in the country illegally.
What Harris has said
Donald Trump and top Republicans are blaming Kamala Harris for a situation at the U.S.-Mexico border that they claim is out of control due to policies by the Biden administration that were too lenient.
The vice president contends that Trump made the situation worse by stopping a bipartisan Senate compromise that would have included tougher asylum standards and hiring more border agents, immigration judges and asylum officers.
Harris said she would bring back that bill and sign that law, saying that Trump "talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk" on immigration. She has also supported comprehensive immigration reform, seeking pathways to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S. without legal status, with a faster track for young immigrants living in the country illegally who arrived as children.