Thanks to Pewsitter today, I found an excellent treatise on the right to self-defense as found in Catholic tradition. The author refers both to Summa Theologica (click here and go to Article 7) and the Catholic Catechism, summarizing the conditions under which the use of lethal force may be allowed and even mandated.
I suggest that all read it. One interesting point he makes is why so many abortion proponents seem keen on depriving us of the means of self-defense - and he makes perfect sense. The progressives who push for abortion and the destruction of the traditional family wish to make the state into a de facto deity. The right to self defense comes from God - a source outside the state. Thus they perceive this right as a supreme threat to their state-idol. Their puppets in the USCCB and various chanceries are merely doing their bidding to make people more dependent upon, and subservient to the state-idol. Why are these preceding sentences italicized? You'll see below!
A perfect "case-in-point" occurred yesterday in the online edition of the Not-So Catholic Reporter. The bloviations typical for that rag run rampant throughout the article, calling for disarming the citizen (What? Do you think crooks are going to obey gun laws and surrender their arms?) One source of the whining is John Gehring of Faith in Public Life. My Catholic Media Coalition colleague, Stephanie Block, exposed Faith in Public Life for the left-wing front organization that it is. Here's another piece that she did. Faith in Public Life has taken money from George Soros. So much for their credibility when it comes to things Catholic.
Another key whiner is none other than the USCCB. They issued a statement that says in a footnote (tucked away so we nasty right-wing bloggers don't notice!), "However, we believe that in the long run and with few exceptions -- i.e., police officers, military use -- handguns should be eliminated from our society." Now compare this statement to the italicized sentences two paragraphs prior to this one. The USCCB is indeed spouting the talking points of their progressive puppet-masters. They are doing so even to the point of dissenting from Catholic moral teaching in regards to the right to self defense. To me, that means that the push to disarm that may come from "social justice" arms of chanceries and conferences must be opposed and resisted as the departures from morality that they are.
A few days ago, a piece by Father Thomas Weinandy was published by Sandro Magister on his blog. Father Weinandy, who was sacked by the increasingly inimical USCCB for speaking truth, demonstrates how the so-called "pastoral" approach is in fact deadly to souls. This piece is the keynote address that Father gave at Notre Dame University in Sydney Australia where I believe he currently teaches.
Many Catholic sites linked to the address as it appeared on Sandro Magister's blog. However, when I went to look for it there, I found that it had been pulled. After some searching, I found it at the Catholic World Report. To guard against another (ahem!) "mysterious disappearance", I'll copy and paste it in its entirety.
This piece is lengthy, so I'll put the jump break here.
That is the title of an email that someone sent to me, from Cardinal Wuerl. In italics below is the text of that email dated January 9th. Actually, because this is a long read...
This is the text of McElroy's homily to the Georgetown pervert-fest last week, as reproduced by Outreach https://outreach.faith/2026/06/cardinal-robert-mcelroy-to-lgbtq-catholics-mercy-redemption-and-holiness/
Cardinal Walter Kasper, in his magnificent book on mercy, states that the greatest attribute of God in God’s relation to humanity is mercy. For it is at the moments when we approach the Lord, resplendent precisely in our humility and seeing ourselves as we truly are, that we comprehend the magnificence of Divine Grace and the utterly unmerited embrace of pure love that God bestows upon us at every moment of our existence. Where does our repentance fit into this lovely imagery?
Mercy is God’s first word to us. Mercy is God’s great gift to us. Mercy is the ambient culture of the church which sees both the sinfulness of the human person and the striving for redemption and holiness that constitute the seeds of grace planted in fertile soil in our hearts and souls, capable of leading us through our failures, our periods of being lost, our times of ecstasy and resilience in this earthly pilgrimage on which we are traveling. The ignorance of Scripture is disgusting and not at all surprising. Jesus' first public word, as reported in Mark's gospel, is "repent". Given the sin that was swarming all over that conference, is it any wonder why McElroy would gloss over that?
In today’s second reading from the Letter to the Romans, Paul reflects that abundant mercy of God when he speaks of sinfulness in our lives, and true redemption (5:12-15). He forthrightly acknowledges that every woman and man is enmeshed in sin, and all of us have contributed to the breakdown in the divine plan for humanity that torments our world and tears our souls asunder.
But in the beautiful final words of the passage, Paul makes clear that the sin of humanity is dwarfed by the grace that God has given us in redemption: “The gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.”.
The gift is not like the transgression. It is far deeper, wider, more profound. It is precisely in light of this reality that we can comprehend the mercy of God in our lives and the life of the church. This does not mean that our sins are peripheral to our lives or our life of discipleship.
On the contrary, the mercy of God precisely in its immense goodness calls us to recognize and confront our sinfulness and recognize how it mars the beauty of our souls and the blessings of our world. Honesty and integrity are the foundations for the Christian moral life, and we live as Christians in the belief that we are called to conform our hearts to the virtues of Jesus Christ: faith, integrity, compassion, sacrifice, prayerfulness, hope, chastity, forgiveness and deepest love. This is the pathway to holiness for all of us, and it requires the rejection of sin in every dimension.
As we gather for this conference in a church which has so frequently wounded the LGBT community through judgmentalism and exclusion, we should find great hope in two important developments that have taken place during the pontificate of Pope Leo which constitute rich seeds for the unfolding of the Gospel in the years to come. Acknowledging the heinous nature and ramifications of homosexual relations is simply the truth that must be embraced by all.
Interestingly, neither of these developments focus specifically on LGBT issues or persons. They focus on the call to holiness for every believer and how it can be lived out in the concrete realities of our modern world.
The first cause for hope lies in the reflection that Pope Leo gave during his inspiring trip to Africa. Speaking to reporters, the Pope said “the unity or division in the church should not revolve around sexual matters.” This simple declaration puts in context the call to chastity as a component of the Christian moral life. Too often both in magisterial statements and on the popular level, sexual sins have been condemned with an ardor that effectively places them in the eyes of many believers as the core moral obligation of Christians. This is utterly false to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Lady of Fatima told the three children that more souls go to hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other cause.
When Pope Leo points to the comparative importance of economic justice, war and peace, immigration and racism as key elements of the Christian moral life, he is rejecting this false reductionism that concentrates moral obligations within the sexual realm. So did Our Lady of Fatima engage in "false reductionism"?
The second development of great import for understanding our call to holiness in the contemporary world is the issuance of the report of Study Group 9 from the 2024 Synod. This Study Group had the great task of applying the pastoral theology of Pope Francis in an integrated way with Catholic teaching and practice. Study Group 9 boldly presented its conclusions in favor of a new paradigm based upon the kerygma:
The church’s mission is not a matter of abstractly proclaiming and deductively applying principles that are set out in an immutable and rigid manner, but of fostering a living encounter with the person of the risen Lord Jesus by engaging with the lived experience of faith of the people of God…in relation to the diverse situations of life and the many cultural contexts. Truth by its very nature is rigid and immutable from age to age. Subjective experience will never trump that.
In its anthropology, the report is pathbreaking: “Every person is a singularity whose wholeness and uniqueness is constituted in relation to the other, to society and to culture.” This focus on singularity reflects the preciousness spoken of in today’s Gospel about the sparrow. How much greater is each of us in our singularity in the eyes of God, who understands the folds of our heart and revels in the diverse beauty of our humanity. Seen in this light, the call to holiness is a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ which envelops the whole of our lives and calls us to walk together in the life of the church — unique yet formed together in Jesus Christ.
The pastoral method of Jesus had a specific and consistent pattern. First the Lord embraced those who had come to him for help. Then, he assisted them with the issue that was weighing them down. Only then did he call them to reform. This pattern must consistently be reflected in the church’s pastoral practice and in our own pastoral outreach to those whom we encounter in our lives within the context of faith. Not always. Recall from Luke 5:17-26. Clearly Our Lord prioritizes dealing with sin over physical ailments.
I believe that this is the greatest contribution that Pope Francis made to the life of the church – the call to reform our conception of pastoral theology and see it as a core element of coming to understand the call of the Gospel and the formation of Catholic teaching. Pastoral practice is not the understanding of how to apply an already formed and often reified set of principles to concrete situations. It proceeds from the conviction that the concrete situations in which people find themselves are constitutive dimensions of how doctrine should be formed in the light of the kerygma.
We gather together as the fruit of synodality is still becoming apparent. Let us pray that in the unfolding conversations in the spirit that guide us in the coming years, the whole people of God will move toward the future that God is building for our church.
Thus ends McElroy's so-called homily, that only served to confirm his audience in their mortal sins, making all the more likely their eternal damnation. Recall that the Church recognizes nine ways that we can share in the guilt of another's mortal sin by cooperating with it. The National Catholic Register lists them. Read that list and see how many ways McElroy's screed does just that.
Yet the SSPX, completely faithful to the teachings of the Church, is the chosen target of Leo's animus? Of course. It's obvious when one considers their clear goal of deconstructing the Faith.
One answer to that question is "when the CCHD and their supporters start their preemptive screeds against faithful Catholics concerned about their left-wing leanings". For example, David Gibson of Religion News Service starts his piece by claiming that "conservative activists are threatening the social mission of the Catholic Church... by attacking the Church's flagship anti-poverty program with 21st-century style Catholic McCarthyism."
Of course he refers to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Obviously Mr. Gibson is unaware that the CCHD, by policy, gives no money to organizations that directly perform the Corporal Works of Mercy. Perhaps Mr. Gibson knows that and he doesn't give a hoot. At any rate, CCHD has traditionally given grants - collected from Catholics during the in-pew collections - to organizations that seek to "change social structures and policies". That quote is taken from one of their flyers. More often than not, these organizations are socialist in nature, along the lines of Saul Alinsky. Indeed, the CCHD was originated by Msgr Jack Egan, an associate (and disciple) of Saul Alinsky for the express purpose of syphoning Catholic resources to fund these community-organizing endeavors (Barack Obama cut his political teeth while working with the Gamaliel Foundation, one such group). But this blog's previous posts have delved in detail into CCHD's sordid past - no need to rehash that here.
Gibson cites as his main source Faith in Public Life - you know, the progressive outfit funded by George Soros. Here is the link to the 24-page report that snivels about the "growing threat". If anything's a "growing threat", it's the tentacles of progressives that infest the bowels of the USCCB offices. I count it as a high compliment to be among those they perceive as a "threat" to them siphoning Catholic money to their causes, but I digress.
A perusal of page 2 of their report will give you quite a number of progressives and Obama supporters; many of these individuals and entities can be entered into this blog's search box for more information: Pax Christi, Thomas Chabolla, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics United, LCWR, the disgraced Bishop Gumbleton, Stephen Schenk. The rest of that report will need to be studied in greater detail.
Getting back to Gibson's article, I must mention one line that is so silly as to be downright amusing. He complains about the "well-financed network" that we are, in his third paragraph. I think I can speak for many of my compatriots when I say that none of that "finance" has greased our palms! On the other hand, when multi-billionaire George Soros has his paw-prints all over Faith in Public Life and its endeavors, it's not too hard to see where the cold cash really flows.
Lest anyone think that this Gibson piece is just a flash in the pan, I now link to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times by Mark Brown. Recall that recently, a "gay marriage" bill was defeated in Illinois. Now Brown is waxing ominous about the Church "playing hardball" with groups that supported perversion of marriage. He's complaining that the CCHD there might cut off their funding. Imagine that! The Catholic Church expects those receiving Catholic money to honor Catholic principles! Here's hoping they hold firm. Anyway, we can see how the mainstream media is marching lockstep behind the progressives who are trying to leech money from Catholics to undermine Christian principles.
There will be more on this. For now, I (and I'm sure my friends) take it as a high compliment that the CCHD apologists feel they have to do this preemptive "damage-control" to restore what at one time was an easy source of cash from unsuspecting Catholics. We're "unsuspecting" no longer. The truth is coming out. Please read the FPL report, and also study the report put out by the Reform CCHD Now Coalition.
Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, has released a letter regarding the goings-on of the inner sanctums of the Vatican. Rorate Caeli obtained a copy of this letter and they are making it public with the aim of awakening some Catholics who insist on looking at all things pontifical with rose-colored glasses. Because I share Rorate's goals I will also post the entire text of this letter below the jump break.
The archbishop mentions that "..it is increasingly evident that the Vatican, through the Secretariat of State has taken the course of political correctness." The rest of the paragraph warrants study. It ends with "the meetings of the Bishops' Conferences often deal with issues which are foreign to the nature of the duties of the successors of the apostles." Ladies and gentlemen, how often have you read posts on this blog and others that lend credibility to His Excellency's words? The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been a particular menace to the Faith, minimizing true moral doctrines as they openly espouse illegal immigration and divert Catholic donations to pro-gay and pro-death outfits via the Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
As you proceed further down, you see the statement "it is difficult to believe that Pope Benedict XVI freely renounced his ministry as successor of Peter." He is plainly saying what many of us have suspected; with his knowledge of what transpires in Vatican halls and offices.
It's high time that all in the Church open their eyes and see the plain truth that has been screaming at us these past several months. And now, below the jump break, is the letter so..
"NCR" in my title stands for Not-At-All Catholic Reporter. In his latest plop in the online edition of that rag, John Gehring had the hypocritical gall to call a pro-life governor a "cafeteria Catholic". There are so many errors here one scarcely knows where to begin - but I'll give it my heroic effort.
Before I begin, have you ever noticed something odd about Gehring and other progressive "katholyc" authors? They often chide Catholics who champion pro-life causes for not adhering to the (discredited) seamless-garment ideology. Never have I ever read of them rebuking pro-abortion politicians for anything, let alone their shilling for baby-murder. I find that to be rather telling regarding their own convictions about the lives of the unborn. And get a load of Gehring's Twitter page! But I digress!
The backdrop for Gehring's dribble is the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. Right in the second paragraph is one whopper. He claims that capital punishment, war and "other moral issues" clash with traditional Catholic teaching. No, they don't. There are conditions that must be met before capital punishment or war are engaged, but they are not the intrinsic evils that abortion and contraception are. I'll link now to a very pertinent article written by Father C. John McCloskey, showing the place capital punishment has in the realm of Catholic moral theology. And there is this, from the Catechism of Pope St Pius X: "It is lawful to kill when fighting in a just war; when carrying out by order of the Supreme Authority a sentence of death in punishment of a crime; and, finally, in cases of necessary and lawful defense of one’s own life against an unjust aggressor.”
Further down Gehring whines, "But when a national Catholic event that attracts leading Republican politicians and Catholic bishops consistently sends a message that being pro-life or pro-family can be reduced to a narrow agenda that aligns with one political party, that is a problem." If he believes that is a "problem", did he bother to ask how that "problem" came into being? Which of the two main political parties has abortion rights and "gay" rights ensconced within its official party platform? It's simply fact that the pro-life position is more closely aligned with the GOP platform - but that's only because the Democrats formally reject all things having to do with protecting innocent babies in their wombs! Why does Gehring ignore that? I believe there is a deliberated reason for that!
At the bottom of the article we read that Gehring is Catholic Program Director at Faith in Public Life. My Catholic Media Coalition colleage Stephanie Block did several exposes of FPL (see here and here) several years ago, exposing its rather squalid alliances with dissident organizations such as Dignity and Call to Action and their own nefarious activities.
Three years ago The Blaze ran an article that revealed the funding that FPL received from George Soros. It also detailed a "behind the scenes" media campaign that Gehring undertook to undermine the bishops' efforts to combat the Obamacare contraception mandate. A prior position Gehring held was Communications Director for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. I've written about them and their undermining of Catholic teaching and the funding they've received from (guess!) George Soros! Are we sensing a pattern here?
At the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter, John Gehring is quite at home, for many (if not most) there, when it comes to matters Catholic, don't know apple butter from cow pie.
Our country is posed to either vote for hell or to vote for at least more time to repair the societal rot that plagues us. Yet some, who call themselves Christian and pro-life, dare to snub the second alternative, making their egos and defective consciences into de facto idols. Enough! Below is an excellent treatise on why your vote for Donald Trump is a moral imperative, binding on pain of sin. I challenge you to read it in its entirety. If you have any objection based on logic and reason and not on some cockamany exaltation of your own conscience as the sole reason, please state in the comments section. Else, dump the insipid bravado and cast your vote for Donald Trump and the GOP ticket.
The original source is here. I reproduce it below, courtesy of Catholics for Trump.
I decided that this article was very sorely needed, as I have encountered some Traditional and Conservative Catholics who are making it a badge of honor to either not vote in the coming presidential election, or else proudly advocating throwing our votes away on third party candidates with no chance of winning.
In past years you may have heard from well meaning Traditionalist or Conservative Catholics that although we are morally prohibited from voting for a candidate who is diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching on moral issues (Kamala) we have no positive moral obligation to vote for the only man who can keep this evil out of office (Trump), because we have no moral obligation to vote for the lesser of two evils.
This advice, however well intentioned it may be, is wrong. I will explain why in detail. I also believe this election to be the most important election of our lifetimes as it may determine whether our country continues to exist as a Constitutional Republic with freedom of speech and religion as well as whether our democracy can even continue to function. It is the most important American Presidential election in history as far as rights of the Church and of Catholics are concerned.
I believe the words of Maureen Mullarkey, spoken in 2016 in response to my support of Catholics voting for Donald Trump at that time, apply equally if not moreso, today:
Jackson’s initiative is addressed specifically to Catholics because so many of us are invested in the theater of ourselves as high moral theologians. Catholics twist themselves into hangman’s knots with deliberations on the lesser of two evils. Which is the lesser, Trump or Clinton? Catholics are enjoined from choosing any evil. If Trump is as horrid as Clinton, the principle of double effect does not apply. Should not commitment to right behavior keep us home and away from the shabby compromises of the voting booth? Do we not put ourselves in moral jeopardy voting for Trump?
Oh, please! There comes a time to grant a bit of credit to Mae West: “Between two evils, I always choose the one I haven’t tried before.”
The Catholic blogosphere is sodden with Prufrockery: Do I dare to eat a peach? Do I dare descend the stair? Dare disturb the universe of my own fine preferences? It is a masturbatory game destined to finish with the election of a vile, traitorous woman greedy for power and money. A woman with a squalid history of shady dealings, evidence gone missing, and lies with calamitous consequences.
Jackson is making the point that refusing to choose is, in fact, a choice. It is a self-admiring one that permits the chooser to gaze on his own clean hands instead of on the outcome of his decision-by-default. Abstention from this election is the vain choice of moral cowards.
I hope by the end of this article that sincere and open-minded Catholics will vote on Tuesday to help save our nation from the existential evil represented by anti-Christian forces, and not end up like the poor souls the Prophet Obadiah described, when he said:
On that day you stood aloof,
the day strangers captured his wealth,
And foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you too were like one of them.
The Theological Principles of Voting
Principle 1: All Catholics are bound to vote in an election.
This is proved through:
(a) The Teaching of the Roman Pontiffs
Pope Leo XII (1878-1903): “And the Church approves of every one devoting his services to the common good, and doing all that he can for the defense, preservation, and prosperity of his country.”[i]
Idem: “It is fit and proper to give support to men of acknowledged worth and who pledge themselves to serve well in the Catholic cause and in no way may it be allowed to prefer to them such individuals as are hostile to religion.”[ii]
Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914): “All should remember, that when the religion or the republic is in danger, it is not licit for anyone to be idle.”[iii] Thus, failure to vote in an election would constitute this idleness, as one would not prevent the fruition of the aforesaid danger.
Idem: “Is it not the duty of every Catholic to make use of the political arms which he has in his hands to defend her, and also to compel politics to remain in their own domain, and beyond rendering what is her due, to leave the Church alone?”[iv]
Pope Pius XI (1922-1939): “Thus a Catholic will take care not to pass over his right to vote when the good of the Church or of the country requires it.”[v]
Pope Pius XII (1939-1958): “The exercise of the right to vote is an act of grave responsibility, at least when there is question involved of electing those whose office it will be to give the country its constitution and its laws, particularly those laws which affect, for example, the sanctification of feast days, marriage, family life and school …”[vi]
Idem: “Tomorrow the citizens of two great nations [Italy and France] will be crowding to the voting booths. What is the fundamental issue in these elections? The question is whether these two nations, these two Latin sister nations which have more than one thousand years of Christian history behind them, will continue to be established on the firm rock of Christianity, on the acknowledgment of a personal God, on the belief of man’s spiritual dignity and immortal destiny, or, on the contrary, will choose to place their future in the inexorable and totalitarian power of a materialist state, which acknowledges no ideals beyond this earth, no religion, and no God. One or the other of these alternatives will be verified, according as the champions of Christian civilization or its enemies are retuned at the head of the poll. The decision lies with the electors, and the responsibility, an exalted but serious one, is theirs.”[vii]
Idem: “It is strictly obligatory for whoever has the right, man or woman, to take part in the elections. He who abstains, particularly through indolence or from cowardice, thereby commits a grave sin, a mortal offense … Everyone has to vote according to the dictates of his own conscience. Now it is evident that the voice of conscience imposes on every sincere Catholic the necessity of giving his own vote to those candidates or to those lists of candidates, which offer them truly adequate guarantees for the protection of the rights of God and of souls, for the true good of individuals, of families, and of society, according to the laws of God and the Church’s moral teaching.”[viii]
Therefore, from the aforementioned texts above, we can ascertain just how crucial voting is. By voting, Catholics promote the common good. However, in order to accomplish this, Catholics are forbidden to vote for any candidate who would harm the Church. A Catholic cannot abstain from voting either, especially when the Church or the country is in endangered. To refrain from voting in this instance would constitute a grave offense, a mortal sin. Thus, all Catholics are obligated to vote, most especially in elections when the Church or the country is endangered.
(b) The Reasoning of the Theologians
(i) Justice and Legal Justice.
Theologians hold that the duty to vote is contained within the notion of “legal justice”. Firstly, St. Thomas Aquinas (1224/5/1274) defines “justice” as, “A habit according to which someone, by a constant and perpetual will, grants to another his due.”[ix] Therefore, justice deals with one’s relation to another. However, the phrase “relation to another” can be understood in two ways.
Again, we invoke St. Thomas who writes, “Justice … orders man in comparison to another … in one way, considered to another singularly. The other way, to another in common, namely, according to that in which he serves some community, serving all men who make up the community.”[x]
Thus, there is a distinction between what we owe to one another as individuals (e.g. what Mary owes to John) and what each member owes to society. For this article, we are dealing with justice in relation to the community/society.
This sort of justice is termed by theologians as legal justice. It is defined as, “A supernatural habit through which one renders what is owed to the state in which he is a part of …”[xi] Theologians utilize this concept in their statements on the obligation of all men to vote when they are given the opportunity. But why? Legal justice has for its object the common good.[xii]
(ii) Society, The Common Good, and Voting.
The common good is what society aims for.[xiii] Thus, as members of a society, we have a duty to promote the common good. In a representative democracy, this is accomplished through the process of voting.
As voters, we elect officials who create laws. “It pertains to law”, writes St. Thomas, “to order the common good.”[xiv] Therefore, it is our job to elect officials who will create good laws, which in turn will promote the common good.
Hence, the importance of voting is evident. If one fails to vote, be it through laziness or indifference, he fails to uphold his duty in society to promote the common good. In an election wherein the Church and the common good may be harmed by a candidate, it is even more pertinent for Catholics to exercise their voting rights. Hence …
(iii) Conclusion.
According to the reasoning of the theologians, all Catholics are bound by their duty to promote the common good in society through the exercise of their vote. This is the sententia communis / common opinion held by theologians.[xv]
Principle 2: Catholics are not allowed to vote for candidates who would be hostile to religion, the country, or the Church
This is proved through:
(a) The Teachings of the Roman Pontiffs.
In response to Question 1, we elucidated a proof by providing various teachings from past popes on the obligation of voting. However, some of the texts also added to this notion, especially in regards to whom the vote should be cast for. In some teachings, the popes explicitly condemn the idea of voting for certain candidates. We reproduce the pertinent ones below.[xvi]
Pope Leo XIII: “It is fit and proper to give support to men of acknowledged worth and who pledge themselves to serve well in the Catholic cause and in no way may it be allowed to prefer to them such individuals as are hostile to religion.”
Pope St. Pius X: “All should remember, that when the religion or the republic is in danger, it is not licit for anyone to be idle.”
Idem: “Is it not the duty of every Catholic to make use of the political arms which he has in his hands to defend her, and also to compel politics to remain in their own domain, and beyond rendering what is her due, to leave the Church alone?”
Pope Pius XI: “Thus a Catholic will take care not to pass over his right to vote when the good of the Church or of the country requires it.”
Pope Pius XII: “The exercise of the right to vote is an act of grave responsibility, at least when there is question involved of electing those whose office it will be to give the country its constitution and its laws, particularly those laws which affect, for example, the sanctification of feast days, marriage, family life and school …”
Idem: “ … Everyone has to vote according to the dictates of his own conscience. Now it is evident that the voice of conscience imposes on every sincere Catholic the necessity of giving his own vote to those candidates or to those lists of candidates, which offer them truly adequate guarantees for the protection of the rights of God and of souls, for the true good of individuals, of families, and of society, according to the laws of God and the Church’s moral teaching.”
Therefore, Catholics are not allowed to vote for candidates who would be hostile to religion, the country, or the Church
(b) Common Sense.
The notion of “hostility” can be twofold. Firstly, a candidate can “be hostile” to the Church by promoting policies that would force the members of the Church to act against their teachings. For example, if a candidate forced Catholic doctors to perform abortions, that would violate the Church’s teaching “Thou shalt not kill.” Secondly, “hostility” can be judged by the promotion of the policies themselves. Thus, if a candidate promotes the return of abortion as a Constitutional right, the arrest of pro-life protesters, the teaching of transgenderism in schools, making Knights of Columbus membership disqualifying for a federal judgeship, and having the FBI investigate Traditional Catholic Chapels as “extremist organizations,” this would entail our notion of “hostility”, as the common good would be gravely damaged.
Principle 3: In an election between one candidate who would be hostile to religion, the country, or the Church, and another who is not hostile but holds an imperfect platform, Catholics must vote for the candidate who would do less harm.
Fr. Titus Cranny writes:
When unworthy candidates are running for office, ordinarily a citizen does not have the obligation of voting for them. Indeed he would not be permitted to vote for them if there were any reasonable way of electing a worthy man, either by organizing another party, by using the “write in” method, or by any other lawful means. On the other hand, it would belicit to vote for an unworthy man if the choice were only between or among unworthy candidates; and it might even be necessary to vote for such an unworthy candidate (if the voting were limited to such personalities) and even for one who would render harm to the Church, provided the election were only a choice from among unworthy men and the voting for the less unworthy would prevent the election of another more unworthy.[xvii]
This is certainly understandable, seeing as how a vote for a less evil candidate would prevent a more evil candidate, causing less harm. Further, it is important to note Cranny’s usage of the word “necessary”. When faced with two such candidates, by necessity, we are to vote for the less evil candidate.
However, people still may have doubts about this. Thus, we prove Principle 3 through the application of two more principles:
(a) The Principle of Double Effect.
The Principle of Double Effect is commonly attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae.[xviii] The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, quoting from The New Catholic Encyclopedia, lists four conditions for applying this principle.[xix] These are:
(1) The act itself must be morally good or at least indifferent.
(2) The agent may not positively will the bad effect but may permit it. If he could attain the good effect without the bad effect he should do so. The bad effect is sometimes said to be indirectly voluntary.
(3) The good effect must flow from the action at least as immediately (in the order of causality, though not necessarily in the order of time) as the bad effect. In other words the good effect must be produced directly by the action, not by the bad effect. Otherwise the agent would be using a bad means to a good end, which is never allowed.
(4) The good effect must be sufficiently desirable to compensate for the allowing of the bad effect.
Thus, in an election with two candidates we have described, voting for the candidate with the less evil platform would:
(1) Be morally good. As it would prevent a greater spread of evil.
(2) Attain the good effect through his voting of the less evil candidate.
(3) The good effect is produced through voting.
(4) Permitting less evil greater than permitting more evil. This is even more evident in an election, where the (a) Church and (b) the common good are at stake.
Thus, voting for the less evil candidate fills the requirements of the Principle of Double Effect.
(b) “Lesser of Two Evils” and the Common Opinion of the Theologians.
Further, the Catholic blogosphere, more commonly around election times hold that, when presented with two evils, one must choose the lesser of the two. In common speech, this is, obviously, known as “The Lesser of Two Evils”. Ironically, informed Catholics seem to wholly disregard this principle as mere folly. Applying this to an election, these aforesaid Catholics jeer that “voting for an evil is still evil”.
However, statements such as these are completely alien to Catholic theology. This principle is even more pertinent to the matter at hand, namely, voting. The theologians are unanimous in their acceptance of voting for a candidate who is “less evil” as a moral good in an election between two imperfect or flawed candidates. [xx]
(c) Corollary on Voting Third-Party candidates/write-ins.
In the beginning of this section, we quoted from Fr. Cranny who stated, “[The voter] would not be permitted to vote for [unworthy candidates] if there were any reasonable way of electing a worthy man, either by organizing another party, by using the “write in” method, or by any other lawful means.”[xxi]
It is important to note here the world “reasonable”. Certainly, if one could muster a substantial amount of a population to vote for a third party over two unworthy/harmful candidates, Catholics would be obliged to vote for that candidate. However, if the third party/write-in candidate had virtually no chance at attaining victory, the vote would be utterly pointless.
Hitherto Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris, who wrote in 1921 regarding this situation. He stated:
It would be better to cast [your votes] for candidates who, although not giving complete satisfaction to all our legitimate demands, would lead us to expect from them a line of conduct useful to the country, rather than to keep your votes for others whose programs indeed may be more perfect, but whose almost certain defeat might open the door to the enemies of religion and of the social order.[xxii]
Thus, while voting a third party candidate/write-in candidate is licit in principle, when the situation arises that they would be certainly defeated, we are obliged to vote for the less evil of the two prominent candidates. Further, voting for a candidate with no chance of winning would do more harm than good. In doing so, the more evil candidate of the two prominent candidates would have an even greater chance of being elected. Thus, it would be harmful to vote for a third party/write-in candidate who lacks the chance of winning, as it would allow a greater evil to come from it.
Application of Theological Principles to the 2024 United States Presidential Election
Thus far in this article, we have enunciated three principles of Catholic theology in regards to voting. To repeat them:
(1) All Catholics are bound to vote in an election.
(2) Catholics are not allowed to vote for candidates who would be hostile to religion, the country, or the Church.
(3) In an election between one candidate who would be hostile to religion, the country, or the Church, and another who is not hostile but holds an imperfect platform, Catholics must vote for the candidate who would do less harm.
Now we are tasked with applying these principles to the election to take place on November 5, 2024 between the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and the Republican candidate President Donald J. Trump. Hence, with these principles in mind, how are we to approach this election?
Application of Principle 1: All Catholics are bound in the 2024 United States Presidential Election.
This is straightforward, and little explanation is required. We have seen numerous quotes from popes and theologians regarding the matter, who state that, under pain of mortal sin, Catholics are bound to vote in an election.
Application of Principle 2: Catholics cannot vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States Presidential Election. If they do so, they sin mortally.
Kamala Harris advocates a plethora of policies that are not only in clear contradiction with the teachings of the Church, but that harm the Church directly, and are hostile to religion and the country. In addition there is an option who will do far less harm (and a lot of good) as we shall see shortly.
(1) As Vice President, Kamala Harris has been a prominent advocate for abortion rights and has criticized pro-life laws at both the state and federal levels. For example, she led campaigns to codify Roe v. Wade’s standards, promote federal abortion protections, and challenge state laws restricting abortion. She has also praised efforts to limit the operations of pro-life pregnancy centers, which provide alternatives to abortion, and was the first sitting Vice President to visit an abortion clinic
(2) As California attorney general, she also sponsored the Reproductive FACT Act, which required pro-life pregnancy centers to inform clients about state-sponsored abortion services, a mandate that was later struck down by the Supreme Court on religious freedom grounds
(3) In the Senate, Harris supported the Equality Act, which would expand protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This bill could force religious institutions to act against their beliefs, particularly regarding hiring practices and facility use. In addition, she promoted gender identity policies in schools and healthcare which conflict with Catholic doctrines on family and marriage.
(4) Harris also co-sponsored the Do No Harm Act, which would have curtailed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), limiting protections for religious organizations in cases involving gender identity or sexual orientation. This act would restrict religious freedom outside of worship contexts, potentially impacting hospitals, schools, and other religious institutions in matters like hiring and health services
(5) While serving as a U.S. Senator, Harris questioned the qualifications of judicial nominees based on their membership in the Knights of Columbus. During these hearings, Harris asked if the nominees’ association with the group, which opposes abortion and supports traditional marriage, might interfere with their judicial impartiality. Her line of questioning was criticized by some lawmakers as potentially infringing on religious freedom and led to a Senate resolution underscoring that membership in such organizations should not be grounds for disqualification from office.
(6) Kamala Harris has supported legislation that could impact doctors’ ability to refuse performing abortions based on conscience or religious beliefs. As a senator, she was a co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have nullified state restrictions on abortion and removed various conscience protections for healthcare providers opposed to performing the procedure. This act was criticized for potentially forcing doctors, including those with religious objections, to provide abortion services against their will. Moreover, Harris supported the Do No Harm Act, which aimed to narrow religious exemptions in cases related to healthcare, thus further limiting protections for medical providers opposed to abortions for religious reason
(7) Harris has opposed the Hyde Amendment, which restricts federal funding for abortion services. She has argued for taxpayer funding of abortions. Her support for the Equality Act, which includes provisions that could affect healthcare providers’ rights to opt-out of procedures that conflict with their beliefs, aligns with her stance on reducing exemptions based on conscience claims
(8) The Biden-Harris administration has actively supported measures to protect and expand access to abortion services. For instance, the administration repealed the “Mexico City Policy,” which restricted U.S. funding for NGOs that promote or perform abortions internationally. Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration has worked to expand contraceptive access under the Affordable Care Act.
(9) The Biden-Harris Department of Education has prioritized policies related to LGBTQ+ rights in schools. These policies include guidelines for the treatment of transgender students, which could require schools to adopt practices that might conflict with their religious beliefs. Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration has increased focus on public education funding, sometimes at the expense of private and religious schools.
(10) In early 2023, the Biden-Harris FBI’s Richmond Field Office issued a memo suggesting that “radical-traditionalist Catholics” could pose a domestic terrorism risk due to alleged links to extremist ideologies. The document proposed monitoring certain Catholic communities, suggesting that undercover agents could be used to gather information.
(11) The Biden-Harris administration’s Justice Department has prosecuted pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Several pro-life activists were recently convicted for organizing and participating in a blockade at an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C., and face potential prison sentences of up to 11 years each. One 75 year old pro-life woman in Massachusetts was sentenced to two years in prison. The Biden-Harris administration also sent an FBI swat team to the home of a pro-life Catholic father at six in the morning to arrest him in front of his terrified family. FACE Act prosecutions under the Biden-Harris administration target nonviolent pro-life actions while overlooking violence toward pro-life facilities.
(12) Vice President Kamala Harris has signaled openness to discussions about Supreme Court reforms, including potentially expanding the number of justices, commonly referred to as “court packing.” During the 2020 campaign, Harris expressed willingness to consider various options, stating that “everything is on the table” regarding the Supreme Court’s composition. If elected she could nominate enough pro-choice justices to overturn Dobbs and reinstate legal abortion until birth (and in some cases allowing the baby to die after birth) as Constitutional law. Her lower level judge appointments will be deciding cases against pro-lifers and will continue to sentence them to jail time for protesting abortion clinics as well as approve of and allow FBI investigations into Catholics.
(13) The Biden-Harris Administration has turned gender theory into foreign policy, requiring all diplomatic missions to push trans activism and funding “LGBTQI+” NGOs in at least 73 countries.
(14) Vice President Kamala Harris attended San Francisco Pride in 2019, where she appeared on stage with members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The Sisters, a 501(c)3 Order of queer and trans “nuns,” is made up of performers in drag in lewd imitation of Roman Catholic nuns that intentionally mock and degrade Catholics.
(15) Vice President Kamala Harris snubbed the Al Smith dinner, a bipartisan fundraiser for Catholic charities typically attended by both major party candidates.
The list could certainly go on and on, but suffice it to say that Kamala Harris is the exact opposite of a pro-Catholic candidate. Voting for her would be mortally sinful.
With the application of Principles 1 and 2, we now proceed to our conclusion with the application of Principle 3.
IV. Conclusion
Application of Principle 3: All Catholics are bound to vote for Donald J. Trump in this 2024 United States Presidential Election.
President Trump provides the better platform and record for Catholics in this election by far. He:
(1) Kept his word and appointed three pro-life justices to the United States Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade as unconstitutional. This was an epic event that Catholics in the pro-life movement had been fighting for since 1972 and that many thought would never become a reality. The Dobbs case in 2022 allowed every state the freedom to restrict abortion up to the point of banning it completely if it so desired. It finally ended the barbaric “Constitutional right” to an abortion. All but one previous “pro-life” Republican President since Nixon had failed to nominate 100% pro-life justices which would have ended Roe much earlier.
(a) Justice Harry Blackmun – Appointed by President Richard Nixon in 1970, Blackmun authored the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which established a constitutional right to abortion.
(b) John Paul Stevens – Nominated by President Gerald Ford in 1975, Stevens consistently supported abortion rights throughout his time on the Court. He voted to uphold Roe v. Wade in cases like Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which reaffirmed the core principles of Roe while allowing for some state restrictions.
(c) Sandra Day O’Connor – Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, O’Connor became known for her “undue burden” standard in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision which upheld the fundamental right to abortion established in Roe.
(d) Anthony Kennedy – Nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, Kennedy co-authored the plurality opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which preserved the essential holding of Roe. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016), he sided with the Court’s liberal justices to strike down restrictive Texas abortion laws.
(e) Justice David Souter – Nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, Souter aligned with the Court’s liberal wing on abortion issues. He joined O’Connor and Kennedy in the Casey decision, supporting the right to abortion. Souter remained a reliable supporter of Roe throughout his tenure on the Court.
(2) President Trump has expressed his desire to repeal the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 law that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including religious institutions, from endorsing or opposing political candidates. The amendment restricts free speech for religious leaders and churches, effectively silencing them on political matters. This is why you don’t see Catholic priests or Bishops in the US explicitly telling congregations which candidate to vote for by name. Unfortunately only Congress has the power to repeal the Amendment. However, in 2017, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Treasury Department not to penalize religious organizations for engaging in political speech.
(3) President Trump expanded religious exemptions under federal law, particularly through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This included updates to guidance that favored religious employers, allowing them to discriminate against employees on religious grounds in some situations.
(4) President Trump worked to support faith-based organizations receiving federal funding, easing requirements that mandated secular alternatives for services provided by religious organizations, such as food banks and job training programs.
(5) President Trump frequently touted religious liberty as a fundamental right. He emphasized the protection of religious expression in schools and the workplace and sought to roll back overreach by previous administrations in regulating religious entities.
(6) President Trump has stated his intent to enact policies that make it easier for religious organizations to operate without fear of federal interference and to strengthen protections against discrimination based on religious beliefs in various aspects of public life.
(7) President Trump has suggested tax deductions for families with newborns to further encourage childbearing
(8) President Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services created a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division and advocated for stronger enforcement of legal protections for Americans with religious and moral objections to certain health care services.
(9) President Trump established the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative to advise the White House on faith-based concerns and find ways to partner with faith-based organizations.
(10) In 2018, President Trump became the first president to address the March for Life rally and declared January 20, 2019 the National Sanctity of Human Life Day.
(11) President Trump has received the endorsement of numerous faith leaders and religious organizations in the 2024, including CatholicVote.
(12) President Trump will keep men out of women’s sports, ban Taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries, and stop Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition, reverse the Biden-Harris administration’s radical rewrite of Title IX Education Regulations, and restore protections for women and girls.
(13) President Trump respects the Right of every American to follow his or her deeply held Beliefs. To protect Religious Liberty, President Trump supports a new Federal Task Force on Fighting Anti-Christian Bias that will investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and persecution against Christians in America.
(14) President Trump will champion the First Amendment Right to Pray and Read the Bible in school, and stand up to those who violate the Religious Freedoms of American students.
(15) President Trump will will reinstate the 1776 Commission, promote Fair and Patriotic Civics Education, and veto efforts to nationalize Civics Education. He will support schools that teach America’s Founding Principles and Western Civilization.
(16) President Trump will ensure children are taught fundamentals like Reading, History, Science, and Math, not leftwing propaganda. He will defund schools that engage in inappropriate political indoctrination of our children, including Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Gender Indoctrination, using Federal Taxpayer Dollars.
(17) President Trump has pledged to parents who homeschool their kids that he will eliminate taxes on up to $10,000 a year per child on all costs associated with their children’s education. “I will also work to ensure that every homeschool family is entitled to full access to the benefits available to non-homeschool students, including participating in athletic programs, clubs, after-school activities, educational trips, and more.”
Catholic Nevertrump Objections & Refutations
1.) Even with this track record, some Catholics point to President Trump’s personal belief in exceptions to abortion bans in the cases of rape and incest as a reason not to vote for him. Obviously, Catholic teaching is that it is wrong to kill the unborn baby no matter what the circumstances of conception were. However, there are two reasons this objection fails.
(a) The objection is irrelevant. Thanks to President Trump’s justices overturning Roe v Wade, it is now irrelevant what President Trump’s personal opinions are on abortion laws. Each state has the right to completely ban abortion from conception until birth if it so desires and Catholics are free to support elected representatives in each state to make that a reality if they so desire. In fact, this is where all pro-life efforts should be focused right now.
(b) The objection is disingenuous. The same people objecting to President Trump’s support of exceptions had no problem voting for Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and some even voted for President in Trump in 2016 and 2020. Every one of these candidates personally believed in the exact same exceptions to abortion law as President Trump.
2.) Others object to the fact that President Trump seems content to leave the decision for abortion restrictions to the states and his unwillingness to sign a national abortion ban as reasons not to vote for him. There are four reasons this objection fails.
(a) First, Trump has never said he would veto a national ban if it got to his desk. As CBS news reported:
…when asked by debate moderator Linsey Davis whether he’d veto a ban, he responded, “I won’t have to,” but did not say he would veto a ban if it were passed by Congress.
Davis tried again: “But if I could just get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ because your running mate, JD Vance, has said that you would veto if it did come to your desk.”
Trump again declined to say whether he’d veto a national ban, responding, “I didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness.”
(b) Second, every GOP presidential nominee since Roe v Wade has been in favor of overturning Roe v Wade, which President Trump finally did. The repeal of Roe v. Wade means states are no longer bound to recognize abortion as a Constitutional right and can restrict it or ban it however they see fit. No GOP presidential nominee in history has ever proposed a national legislative abortion ban. Yet the same people using this as an excuse not to vote for Trump voted for other GOP presidential nominees with no qualms of conscience.
(c) Third, Traditional Catholic Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the most conservative justice in history. He also thought the abortion issue was an issue for the states under the Constitution. In his dissent in Planned Parenthood v Casey, he wrote:
…by foreclosing all democratic outlet for the deep passions this issue arouses, by banishing the issue from the political forum that gives all participants, even the losers, the satisfaction of a fair hearing and an honest fight, by continuing the imposition of a rigid national rule instead of allowing for regional differences, the Court merely prolongs and intensifies the anguish.
We should get out of this area, where we have no right to be, and where we do neither ourselves nor the country any good by remaining.
Are there any Catholics opposed to Trump on this basis who would have refused to vote to confirm Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court because his abortion views were so morally abhorrent? Especially if the alternative they would install by voting against him was Ruth Bader Ginsberg? Of course not. This argument is thus, absurd.
(d) Fourth, this objection is completely unrealistic. As a practical matter, a national abortion ban is completely off the table and only exists in our wildest fantasy. National opinion has swung hard in the pro-choice direction after Dobbs as evidenced by the Democrats unusually strong showing in 2022 when the party who holds the presidency typically loses seats. Data indicated that abortion was a top issue among Democrats and even influenced some independents who disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision. In a YouGov poll taken on October 31, 2024, Kamala polled a whopping 18 points higher than Trump on the abortion issue. The only issue she polled higher on compared to Trump was LGBTQ rights. Kamala has been campaigning almost exclusively on abortion rights as she knows that is a big motivator to get her demographics to the polls. Trump proposing a hopeless complete national abortion ban in this climate, which would not have a prayer to pass Congress anyway, would have been political suicide and energized Kamala’s base even more.
3.) Still others object to a more recent proposal President Trump has made that the government or private health insurance cover the cost for couples to obtain fertility treatments including IVF. Obviously, IVF is against Catholic teaching as it involves conception outside the marital act as well as the creation of embryos that are often frozen or disposed of. President Trump sees it as “pro-family” assisting otherwise infertile couples to have children. There are two reasons this objection fails as a reason not to vote for him.
(a) First, this proposal will almost certainly not happen if Trump is elected. The federal government currently lacks the authority to directly require private insurers to cover specific medical treatments unless through federal legislation. Catholics could petition their congressmen to vote no to any such proposal. For public insurance like Medicaid, covering IVF would be difficult due to budgetary constraints and differing state policies. Regardless, if the legislation requiring coverage for IVF somehow passed, President Trump recently told EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo that exceptions for religious organizations and employers who claim that IVF violates their religious freedom would be a “good idea.” In addition, health insurers would resist mandates for IVF coverage, citing high costs and increased premiums for members.
(b) Second, many health insurance plans already cover things opposed to Catholic moral teaching such as contraception, sterilization procedures, such as tubal ligation and vasectomies, abortions, IVF, and sex-change procedures and operations. If these objectors are consistent, they could not morally vote for any candidate who doesn’t oppose these items being covered by private or public health insurance. Yet no presidential nominee has ever called for the end to such coverage.
The False Premises of the Catholic Nevertrumps
There are two fundamentally flawed premises underlying all of the Catholic Nevertrump arguments.
First, the logic of their arguments would only make sense if we lived in a Catholic society or Catholic confessional state where we have the luxury as Catholic voters to vote for the most perfect Catholic candidate among many, or to simply not vote because no matter who wins they will more or less uphold Catholic principles. Or that we have the luxury to vote for third party or unpopular candidates who we think are the best in order to slowly help build their vote count for the future knowing that our nation will be run by good-enough Catholics in the meantime.
In contrast to this Utopian fantasy world, we live in an increasingly hostile secular state where our liberties and rights as practicing Catholics are quickly and frighteningly being curtailed. We are literally fighting for our own survival. In such a situation we are like drowning men looking for any piece of driftwood to hold onto to keep from going under. Pro-life peaceful protesters exercising their first amendment rights are being thrown in jail and having SWAT teams sent to their houses, the FBI is infiltrating Traditional Catholic chapels which are considered extremist gatherings, Catholics are being told they are unworthy of being judges for belonging to the Knights of Columbus, and proposals are being made to throw Catholic doctors in prison for not performing abortions.
This reality, the actual reality of the United States of America in 2024, is not one where we have the moral luxury to sit back and passively allow pure evil to take over the nation for another four years because we don’t think their only opposition, which is vastly more friendly to our cause, is quite up to par with our standards. It would be like a drowning man choosing to drown if he is not rescued by a yacht instead of a fishing boat. Except in this case it is worse, which brings me to the next flawed premise.
The second flawed premise is that the Catholic Nevertrump ideology is at its heart, inward looking and selfish. The entire focus is about me and what the proper and best moral choice that I can make for my own conscience’s sake. This ideology tends to look at things in a vacuum where I am presented with two choices on paper and if neither lives up to my moral standards I have the right to select neither.
Taking this logic to it’s extreme, I could be presented with the choices of Joseph Stalin or Ronald Reagan as the leader of my country. Obviously, I’m not voting for Joseph Stalin because he is a mass murderer and would turn the US into a Communist dictatorship. Reagan looks better so let’s examine his policies. Whoa there! Looks like he was divorced so that is against Catholic teaching. Also looks as if he is for rape and incest exceptions to abortion, therefore he is basically promoting the legalization of the extermination of innocent human life. Therefore, in principle at least, he is fundamentally no different than Stalin in that aspect. In addition, Reagan is fine with allowing intrinsic evils such as contraception and civil divorce to remain legal. Therefore, both candidates are “evil” and “bad” to varying degrees. My conscience tells me that voting for the lesser of two “evils” is still “evil” therefore, the most moral thing I can do in this situation and to keep from sinning is to vote for neither candidate.
This navel gazing and scrupulosity filled misguided moral analysis completely misses the point that there are most dire consequences that this decision has not just on me, but on hundreds of millions of my fellow countrymen who stand to be consumed by an oppressive and irreversible and corrupt anti-Catholic machine. This is not some sort of morality exam in a university ethics class, it has real life and very serious consequences.
The True Catholic Teaching
The true Catholic teaching regarding a political situation such as ours has never been so narrow minded, myopic, self-centered, and self-defeating. The Church has never mandated us to be so completely unreasonable and cowardly in failing to preserve our own rights and those of the Church within increasingly hostile secular democracies.
In fact we have a perfect example in 1948 Italy. As Fr. Cranny says, “But even more important… were [the elections] of 1948 in Italy when the Communists, bolder than before, openly vowed to gain control of the government and threatened to harm the Church.” In 1948, there was a significant threat of a communist takeover in Italy, and Pope Pius XII took an active role in opposing it. In the aftermath of World War II, Italy was politically polarized, with the Italian Communist Party (PCI) gaining considerable influence and forming a coalition with the Socialist Party. Together, they posed a serious challenge to Italy’s Christian Democrats in the upcoming parliamentary elections. This was concerning to the Vatican, as the PCI was allied with the Soviet Union and advocated for policies that were antithetical to Catholic teachings and the Church’s influence in Italy.
Pope Pius XII was deeply concerned about the potential for a communist government, fearing it would suppress religious freedoms and align Italy with the Soviet bloc. In response, he spoke directly to Italian Catholics, urging them to support the Christian Democrats and to reject the communist-socialist alliance. The Pope’s appeals were made through various speeches and messages, in which he emphasized the incompatibility of communism with Catholicism, framing the election as a choice between preserving Christian civilization or falling under atheistic communism. The Church also took practical steps to sway the vote, including organizing parish-based efforts to encourage Catholics to participate in the election and support anti-communist candidates.
Now who were the Christian Democrats? Were they all perfect Catholic candidates? No. In fact, the Christian Democrats were involved in the establishment of laws regarding divorce and family rights that contradicted Catholic teaching. The reason is that the party was tasked with governing a secular state, which meant they sometimes had to support policies that were not strictly Catholic in nature in order to be elected. Nevertrumps would gasp in horror at this notion, but this was simply the pragmatic political reality of the time and this is the point the Nevertrumps continually fail to grasp. All politics in secular states is pragmatic! That is the nature of the game. If your party never wins elections, you could have the most pristine Catholic moral platform in the world and it won’t mean a thing or help preserve the Church, Catholics, the country, or the common good whatsoever. So outside of a Catholic monarchy, which we don’t live in, we can never expect such unrealistic perfection in government.
Instead of this self-defeating, navel gazing, perfectionism, Pope Pius XII already gave us a sterling example of what to do in such a situation. Faced with the reality of a Communist takeover of Italy in the 1948 elections, Pope Pius XII commanded Italian Catholics to vote for the only imperfect opponent candidates (the Christian Democrats) who had a chance to beat the Communists in order to save the Italian people from the devastating consequences of failing to vote or voting for hopeless pie in the sky third party candidates. This is the Catholic moral obligation: to preserve and protect as much in your society and country that is ordered towards the truth as you can. And just as that could only be accomplished by voting for the imperfect Christian Democrats in Italy in 1948, it can only be accomplished in the United States in 2024 by voting for President Trump.
The Moral Consequences of Failing to Stop a Kamala Victory
The Moral Consequences of Failing to Stop a Kamala Victory can be seen very starkly in the words of Dominican moral theologian Fr. Benoit Merkelbach who stated, “Voters who, through grave fault by abstaining from voting do not stop an evil decision, election, or law from coming to pass, if they are bound by a specific duty to stop a foreseen harm which follows, are cooperators in evil.” [xxiii]
Who can deny that the parade of horribles that Kamala Harris has enacted and will enact are evil decisions and laws? Who can deny that all Catholic voters have a specific duty to stop the foreseen harm that would follow? Who then, could deny that failing to vote to stop this candidate from inflicting these evils on society would be a grave fault and a cooperation with evil? And who can deny that the only way to effectively stop Kamala Harris from winning is to vote for the only candidate who has a chance of defeating her?
As Cardinal Costa of Florence once said in 1951:
Even township elections can cause enormous damage to our institutions. To realize the importance of this it is enough to observe that whoever abstains from voting, or who votes for individuals who oppose Christian faith and morals, automatically makes himself responsible for all the damages that come after that to souls and to consciences. He thus makes himself guilty of a sin much greater than missing Mass on Sunday or not making the Easter Duty. The latter are individual sins, whereas a badly given vote or a neglected vote is a social sin which damages – and oh how gravely it damages – the community, the countryside and the very state itself. [xxiv]
And as Pope Pius XII said in 1947:
Consequently, there is a heavy responsibility on everyone, man or woman, who has the right to vote, especially when the interests of religion are at stake; abstention in this case is in itself, it should be thoroughly understood, a grave and a fatal sin of omission.
On the contrary, to exercise, and exercise well, one’s right to vote is to work effectively for the true good of the people, as loyal defenders of the cause of God and of the Church. [xxv]
THEREFORE, from what has been enunciated and described in this article, following the teachings of the Roman Pontiffs and the theologians, coalescing into theological principles, Catholics have a moral duty to vote for President Donald J. Trump in the 2024 United States Presidential Election. [xxvi]
Endnotes:
[i] De Libertate Humana; Cranny, 56. Translations of papal documents are Cranny’s, unless noted otherwise.
[ii] Sapientiae Christianae; Cranny, ibid. Italics are our emphasis. N.B. the phrase “idem” is a Latin intensive pronoun meaning “the same”. Thus, “idem” here refers to the same author, namely Pope Leo XIII. Also, the abbreviation “ibid.” comes from the Latin “ibidem”, which in English means “the same place”.
[iii] Inter Catholicos; cf. Cranny, 57. Our emphasis and translation.
[vi] Cranny, ibid. Cranny cites the journal The Catholic Mind, 44:1001 (May 1946), 301 for this. This quote from Pius XII was a speech given to the pastors and preachers who came to Rome during Lent, warning them about the upcoming Italian election.
[vii] Ancora una volta; Cranny, 59. Our emphasis.
[viii] Discorso di sua santità Pio XII ai parroci e ai quaresimalisti di Roma; Cranny 60-61.
[ix] Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 58, a. 1, co. “[I]ustitia est habitus secundum quem aliquis constanti et perpetua voluntate ius suum unicuique tribuit.”; cf. Cranny, 78. Our translation. “Summa Theologiae” hereafter abbreviated ST. N.B. the word “habit” can be a bit confusing for those with no philosophical or theological experience. It is not understood as “habit” of smoking. Bernard Wuellner, in his Dictionary of Scholastic Philosophy, defines habit as, “A permanent quality according to which a subject is well or badly disposed in regard to either its being or its operations.” Thus, habit here means “disposition”.
[x] ST II-II, q. 58, a. 5, co. “Iustitia … ordinat hominem in comparatione ad alium … [u]no modo, ad alium singulariter consideratum. Alio modo, ad alium in communi, secundum scilicet quod ille qui servit alicui communitati servit omnibus hominibus qui sub communitate illa continentur.”; cf. Cranny, ibid. Our translation.
[xi] Waffelaert, De Iustitia. “Iustitia legalis seu generalis est … habitus supernaturalis per quem unusquisque reddit quod debitum est rei publicae cuius ipse pars est …”; cf. Cranny, 77. Our translation.
[xiii] Cf. Thomas Aquinas, Sententia libri Politicorum, Iib. I, lect. 1, n.3. “[The political society] is the connector of the most principal good between all human goods: it aims for the common good …”. “[Communitas politica] est coniectatrix principalissimi boni inter omnia bona humana: intendit enim bonum commune …” N.B. it is outside the scope of this work to discuss what exactly the common good is. For a brief discussion of Aquinas’s notion, click here.
[xiv] ST, II-II, q. 58, a. 5, co. “Et quia ad legem pertinet ordinare in bonum commune …”; cf. Cranny, 79. Our translation.
[xv] See Cranny, 77-90 for a more detailed account of this. He states blantatly, “Most moralists hold that voting is of obligation.” The unanimity is pertinent. One does not need every single theologian to hold this position to be true. Hence the axiom in Catholic theology: “Concordm omnium theologorum sententiam in rebus fidei aut morum reiicere, si non est haeresis, est tamen haeresi proximum.” “To reject the common opinion of all theologians in things of faith or morals, if it is not heresy, it is proximate to heresy.” See also Pius IX, Tuas Libenter, found in Denziger-Schonmetzer #1684.
[xvi] For the sake of brevity, we will note reproduce the same citations for each text. Please refer to the above endnotes to locate the specific document. The emphases will also remain.
