Pope Francis slams Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for what he calls anti-life policies

ON BOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis on Friday sharply criticized both U.S. presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and advised American Catholics to choose the person they consider to be the “lesser evil” in the upcoming U.S. election.

“Both sides are against life, the one who throws out migrants and the one who kills children,” Francis said.

Argentine Jesuit Asked to Advise American Catholic Voters at Air Press Conference as he flew back to Rome from his four-nation tour of AsiaFrancis emphasized that he is not an American and will not vote.

Neither Republican Party candidate Donald Trump nor Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris were mentioned by name.

Still, Francis had harsh words when asked to take a stance on two sensitive U.S. election issues — abortion and migration — that are also a matter of grave concern for the Catholic Church.

Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his papacy, and has spoken out about it forcefully and frequently. While he has firmly maintained the Church’s teaching against abortion, Francis has not emphasized Church doctrine as much as his predecessors.

Francis said that migration is a right described in Holy Scripture and that anyone who does not follow the biblical call to welcome strangers commits a “grave sin.”

He also spoke directly about abortion. “To have an abortion is to kill a human being. You may like that word or not, but it is killing,” he said. “We need to see that clearly.”

Asked what voters should do at the ballot box, Francis recalled that voting is a civic duty.

“You have to vote and choose the lesser evil,” he said. “Who is the lesser evil, a woman or a man? I don’t know.

“Everyone should think it over and act according to their conscience,” he said.

Harris and Trump’s campaigns did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.

U.S. President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, shares Harris’ staunch support for abortion rights, a position that has prompted some Catholic bishops and other conservatives to call for him to be stripped of access to Holy Communion.

After meeting in person with Francis at the Vatican in October 2021, Biden said the pope told him he was a “good Catholic” and should continue to receive Holy Communion.

Francis, asked earlier about some U.S. bishops who want to deny Biden Holy Communion because of his support for abortion rights, said bishops should be pastors, not politicians.

Friday’s news conference was not the first time Francis has spoken out about the U.S. election. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Francis was asked about Trump’s plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, at which time Francis said anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants “is not a Christian.”

In response on Friday, Francis recalled that he celebrated Mass at the U.S.-Mexico border and “there were a lot of shoes of migrants who ended up badly there.”

Trump makes promises mass deportations, just as he did in his first White House offer when there was a huge gap between his ambitions and the legal, financial and political realities of such an undertaking.

The U.S. bishops’ conference, for its part, called abortion a “top priority” for American Catholics in published voting advice. Harris firmly defended the right to abortion and emphasized support to restore federal abortion rights.

In his comments, the pope added: “On the issue of abortion, science tells us that one month after conception all the organs of a human being are already there, all of them. Performing an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you like the word or not, it is killing. You cannot say that the Church is closed because it does not permit abortion. The Church does not permit abortion because it kills. It is murder.”

However, cells only begin the process of developing organs in the earliest weeks of pregnancy. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that by week 13, all the major organs are formed. For example, heart tissue begins to form in the first two months—first a tube that only later develops into the four chambers that define the heart.

In other comments, Francis: