Choose “the lesser evil,” asks Francis

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (EFE).—Pope Francis indicated yesterday that Catholics in the United States will have to choose “the lesser evil” in the next elections, referring to the defense of abortion by the Democratic Party candidate, Kamala Harris, and the deportations of millions of immigrants promised by Republican Donald Trump.

“Both (cases) are against life, the one that expels migrants and the one that kills children,” said Francis when responding to which candidate Catholic voters should vote for in the United States at the press conference on board the plane. back from his tour of Asia and Oceania.

The Pope said that “expelling migrants, not giving them the ability to work or shelter is a serious sin” and recalled that in the Old Testament it is always said that we must welcome the “stranger, the orphan and the widow,” and that whoever does not welcome a migrant commits a sin against life.

Murder

However, he warned that abortion “is killing a human being” and that “even if they are words that are not liked, it is murder.”

“You may not like this, but it is a murder and this does not mean that the Church is closed. The Church does not allow abortion because it is murder and we are clear about this,” he stressed.

And then he stressed: “Expelling immigrants is evil, and throwing a child out of the mother’s womb is murder, and we must talk about this clearly and without buts. Both things are clear.”

“I am not an American and I am not going to vote, but between that lady (in reference to Kamala Harris) or that man (Donald Trump), each one does it according to their conscience,” he asserted.

Abortion and the immigration issue were some of the topics of strong confrontation between the two candidates during this week’s television debate.

On the other hand, the Pontiff responded that it is “too much,” when asked about Israel’s bombings in Gaza and now in the West Bank in response to the attacks by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on October 7, which left some 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped

“I cannot rate whether these attacks are too bloodthirsty or not, but, please, when I see those bodies of children murdered just for the presumption that there are some guerrillas (hidden) there (in the place)… Bombing a school is ugly , very ugly,” said the Pope.

And he added: “It is said that it is a defensive war, but sometimes, I think this war is too much.”

“I apologize for saying this, but I believe that steps are not being taken to achieve peace,” he denounced.

Israel bombed the Jaouni school in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, last Wednesday, causing at least 18 deaths, six of whom were workers from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), according to the agency.

Regarding the mediation of the Vatican, he assured that the Holy See works every day to stop the war and that he calls the Gaza parish every day, whose parish priest is the Argentine Gabriel Romanelli.

About 600 people took refuge there, Christians and Muslims who “live as brothers” and who tell him “very ugly and difficult things” that are happening, he said.

He also referred to cases of sexual abuse within the Church and said that he is glad that they are coming to light, because they are “a crime and a shame.”

Francis made these statements when asked about the new cases of abuse of which Abbé Pierre, a Capuchin priest who died in 2007, known for being the founder of the “Emmaus” charity association, is accused.

Regarding this case, the pope stated that it is painful, because he was a person who did a lot of good, but also a sinner.