OPINION: Pope Francis has unexpectedly and uncommonly dived into the American presidential election campaign and suggested that America's 52 million Roman Catholics should make a decision about who to support on the basis of the presidential candidates' views on abortion and immigration and who therefore is the 'lesser evil'.
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| Pope Francis pontificating about God knows what. Excuse the double pun. Image: Reuters. |
We know that Kamala Harris has vowed to sign any legislation passed by Congress that would restore national protections for abortion access which was struck down by the Supreme Court two years ago under the then President Trump.
In Trump we know that he is very strong on illegal immigration. He has consistently said that he will crack down on illegal immigration and deport millions of immigrants who made it to the United States.
And Pope Francis said that both issues are about life. The lives of unborn babies and the lives of immigrants. You decide what's more important. He doesn't know the answer. He said that Roman Catholics must choose the lesser evil.
"You must choose the lesser evil. Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don't know."
So he's asking people to decide whether Harris is better than Trump or Trump is better than Harris in terms of overall character. But to refer to Harris as evil is mad. 😎😒
Well, Pope Francis is entirely wrong in asking Roman Catholics to decide on the character of Trump and Harris on the basis of their policies on immigration and abortion.
You have to decide on a person's character on a full spectrum of behaviours. On what they say and do over a long period of time.
And when you do that you are forced to come to the only possible conclusion namely that Kamala Harris is a far better person than Donald Trump.
I realise that a lot of Americans worship him (I respect that) but Donald Trump has clearly demonstrated that he lacks integrity. For example, you might think it minor but he cheats at golf. Anybody who does that lacks integrity. And we know he lies. And we know that he is a misogynistic egocentric twit. Plus he is a convicted criminal for God's sake. We know is a bad decision-maker judging by the last presidential debate. What more do we need?
And we know that Kamala Harris has a very strong record on animal welfare throughout her personal and professional life - a sign of a good character. She has a good face. She has a face which beams integrity in my view. I think we can read faces and I think faces project a person's personality. That's why I say she has a good face. She has integrity. She is normal. She is balanced. She wants to do the right thing. She hasn't got an ego as big as a house. She isn't narcissistic. She is decent.
These are the issues when deciding who the better person is. Donald Trump wants to build a wall to block immigrants to America. I understand the concerns about mass illegal immigration to America. They are very great concerns but I think we have to ask ourselves whether we would do the same thing as these immigrants if we lived in crappy countries and wanted to improve our lives. I would certainly go north from South and Central America and try and get into the US. It's normal.
As for abortion, this is a very polarised topic. But the general consensus is that abortion is acceptable provided the foetuses is below a certain age. Deciding what that ages is complicated. So abortion per se according to the vast majority of people is not evil or bad. It is a natural extension of humankind's carelessness in having a child that they don't want.
I agree with the Pope in one respect in that in a more ideal and better world there would be no need for abortion because people would be far more careful and there would be no unwanted babies. But we have to accommodate humankind's sloppiness and bad behaviour. Abortion is a very bad compromise accommodating humankind's poor behaviour but it has to be acceptable because you have to respect women's rights as well. And the welfare of a child brought into this grim world when unwanted.
As I said, Pope Francis has got this wrong. And as I also say it's obvious who the better person is. And for the Pope to even suggest that Kamala Harris is evil is ridiculous. You might say that about Donald Trump! But it depends upon your political affiliations.
Some people worship Donald Trump. There's a kind of cult worship for him which is disconcerting. But neither person is evil really. But neither person is perfect. It's just that Kamala Harris is in a different league in terms of decent behaviour.
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