Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Catholics are PRO LIFE and we vote for PRO LIFE candidates. You don't take my word for it. Journalist: "Is it ever licit for a Catholic to vote for a pro-abortion candidate. Is it ever valid?" Here is what our bishops responded:
"The question to ask is this: Are any of the candidates of either party, or independents, standing for something that is intrinsically evil, evil no matter what the circumstances? If that's the case, a Catholic, regardless of his party affiliation, shouldn't be voting for such a person."
– Archbishop William Lori, Diocese of Baltimore, Maryland
"No. You can never vote for someone who favors absolutely the right to choice of a woman to destroy a human life in her womb. Where you don't have any candidate who is proposing to eliminate all abortion [voters may] choose the candidate who will most limit this grave evil in our country. But you could never justify voting for a candidate who not only does not want to limit abortion but believes that it should be available to everyone."
– Cardinal Raymond Burke
"I certainly can't vote for somebody who's either pro-choice or pro-abortion. Jesus tells us very clearly that if we don't help the poor, we're going to go to hell. But Jesus didn't say the government has to take care of them, or that we have to pay taxes to take care of them. Those are prudential judgments. You can't say that somebody's not Christian because they want to limit taxation. To say that it's somehow intrinsically evil like abortion doesn't make any sense at all."
– Archbishop Charles Chaput, Diocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"One might argue for different methods to address the needs of the poor, to feed the hungry and to solve the challenges of immigration, but these are prudential judgments not intrinsic evils… You need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy."
– Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Diocese of Springfield, Illinois
"Other pieces of legislation touch on the building of a good and just society and may be open to prudential judgment, … [but] 'Forming Consciences' tells us that in the political debate today there is no other issue that rises to this level of moral certitude: Abortion is always wrong. To support political platforms that protect so-called 'abortion rights' is to participate in the inexorable conclusion: many, many innocent unborn children will be killed. Sometimes a single issue will be so important it overrides a whole range of lesser issues."
– Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C.
"Could a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports legalized abortion when there is a choice of another candidate who does not? Could a voter's preference for the candidate's positions on the pursuit of peace, economic policies, health care, etc., overcome a candidate's support for legalized abortion? The Catholic voter must ask and answer the question: What could possibly be a proportionate reason for the more than 45 million children killed by abortion? We cannot conceive of such a proportionate reason."
– Archbishop Joseph Naumann & Bishop Robert Finn, Diocese of Kansas City, Kansas
"In all of Church teaching, the Life Issues, particularly the protection of unborn children against the crime of abortion, has to be our greatest priority. This is an ongoing slaughter of 4,000 children every single day for the last 40 years. If we support and promote persons who have pledged to extend it and intensify the slaughter, then we bear great responsibility with them."
– Bishop Robert Finn, Diocese of Kansas City, Kansas
"A committed and convinced Catholic is always pro-life on the issue of abortion and euthanasia, and that includes in the voting booth."
– Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, Diocese of Cincinnati, Ohio
"The failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the 'rightness' of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful."
– USCCB
It is my responsibility to remind you that, for us Catholics, some issues are simply never morally acceptable. The taking of an innocent human life, whether inside the womb or not, and up until natural death, is always and everywhere intrinsically evil. Such issues as embryonic stem cell research and attempts at human cloning are also direct attacks against the dignity and uniqueness of human life made in the image of God. As Catholics we must first consider the various candidates and party platforms in light of those immutable issues I have mentioned above. Then, in good conscience, we must give preference to the candidate who does not oppose our God given moral principles.
– Bishop Felipe J. Estévez, Diocese of St. Augustine, FL
God Bless,
Fr. Don Kline
Católico= Pro Vida
Queridos Hermanos y Hermanas en Cristo,
Los Católicos son Pro Vida y votamos por candidatos Pro Vida. ¿Es siempre lícito que un Católico vote por candidato que es pro-aborto? ¿Es esto valido? Esto es lo que los Obispos responden.
"La pregunta que hacer es esta: Son algunos de los candidatos o independientes, representando algo que es completamente maligno, malo, sin importar las circunstancias de la situación. Si ese es el caso, un Católico, sin importar a qué partido pertenece, no puede votar por alguien que es pro-aborto." –Arzobispo William Lori, Diócesis de Baltimore, Maryland.
"No. Nunca pueden votar por alguien que favorezca absolutamente la opción de la mujer de destruir la vida humana dentro de su vientre. En donde no hay un candidato que propone eliminar el aborto (los votantes) escojan el candidato que va a limitar mas esta grave maldad de nuestro país. Pero nunca se puede justificar el votar por un candidato que no quiere limitar el aborto.
– Cardinal Raymond Burke
"Yo realmente no puedo votar por alguien que está a favor del aborto. Jesús nos dice bien claro que si no ayudamos a los pobres, nos vamos a ir al infierno. Pero Jesús no dijo que el gobierno tiene que cuidar de ellos, o que tenemos que pagar impuestos para cuidar de ellos. Esos son cosas prudenciales. No se puede decir que alguien no es Cristiano porque no quiere limitar los impuestos. El decir que esto es absolutamente malo igual que el aborto, no tiene sentido."
– Obispo Thomas Paprocki, Diócesis de Springfield, Illinois
"Otras piezas de la legislación tocan el tema de tener una sociedad justa y buena, el estar abiertos a un buen juicio,…….. (pero) siempre formando buenas conciencias. Pero en los debates políticos de ahora existe el tema moral del aborto. Y el aborto es siempre malo. El apoyar a las plataformas políticas que protegen los supuestos derechos del aborto, terminara en que mas y mas bebes inocentes morirán. A veces existe un solo tema político que completamente sobrepasa todos los otros temas, y hace ver las otras cosas como menos".
– Cardenal Donald Wuerl, Arzobispo de Washington, DC.
"¿Puede un católico en buena conciencia votar por un candidato que apoya legalizar el aborto cuando existe otro candidato que no lo apoya? ¿Puede un votante preferir al candidato que apoya la paz, las pólizas económicas, la salud, ect., y apoya la legalización del aborto? El votante católico debe de preguntarse lo siguiente: Cual puede ser la razón que justifique que más de 45 millones de bebes se mueran por culpa del aborto. No existe ninguna razón."
– Arzobispo Josheph Naumann & Obispo Robert Finn, Diócesis de Kansas City, Kansas.
"Es mi responsabilidad el recordarles, que para nosotros católicos, hay ciertos temas que simplemente nunca serán moralmente aceptables. El matar a una vida inocente, ya sea adentro del vientre de una mujer o afuera, hasta su muerte natural es siempre y será siempre una maldad y un pecado. Temas como la investigación de células madres embrionarias y la clonación de humanos también son un ataque directo en contra de la dignidad de la vida humana la cual está hecha a imagen y semejanza de Dios. Como Católicos debemos de considerar a los candidatos que apoyan este tipo de temas. Y después en buena conciencia darle preferencia al candidato que no se oponga a los principios morales de Dios.
Que Dios los bendiga,
Padre Don Kline