Pope Francis on Friday broken his silence on the forthcoming United States (US) presidential election schedule for November 5, 2024.
Speaking on the global anticipation of the election, Pope Francis challenged US voters on the kind of choice to make in electing the next president.
He characterized the forthcoming presidential election as one between the “lesser of two evils,” deeming former President Donald Trump’s anti-migrant policies and Vice President Kamala Harris’ support of abortion rights as both being “against life.”
“One must choose the lesser of two evils. Who is the lesser of two evils? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know.
“Everyone with a conscience should think on this and do it.” Francis said during a press conference on the papal plane, referring to Harris and Trump.
Pope Francis, who has been more vocal about politics than his predecessors and has moved to make the Catholic Church more open has stressed over the years that the issue of abortion cannot be isolated from other human rights concerns, such as immigration.
While Francis maintained that the official stance of the church on abortion is a grave sin and slammed Harris on Friday for backing reproductive rights, also criticized Trump’s immigration policies as “evil.”
“To send migrants away, to leave them wherever you want, to leave them … it’s something terrible, there is evil there.
“To send away a child from the womb of the mother is an assassination, because there is life. We must speak about these things clearly,” he said.
