For decades, a troubling pattern has persisted among Catholic voters in America. Despite the Church’s clear and consistent teaching that abortion is an intrinsic evil — the deliberate taking of innocent human life — millions of Catholics continue to support candidates and a party whose platform is built around expanding access to it, including late-term procedures.
The U.S. bishops have repeatedly called the protection of unborn life our “preeminent priority.” This is not political rhetoric. It flows from the foundational Catholic belief that every human person possesses inherent dignity from the moment of conception. As the bishops state, Catholics may never vote for a candidate precisely because they promote abortion. Doing so would be formal cooperation with grave evil. While the bishops allow that a Catholic might vote for such a candidate for “truly grave moral reasons,” they pointedly ask what issue could possibly outweigh the scale of abortion in our country.
The Democratic Party’s current platform makes no secret of its commitment to abortion rights. It has moved far beyond “safe, legal, and rare” to an aggressive defense of abortion at every stage. This stands in direct opposition to the Gospel of Life.
Catholics who support this party often point to other important issues — care for the poor, immigration, healthcare, and economic justice. The Church indeed calls us to address all these needs. Yet none of them justify setting aside the right to life itself. A society that fails to protect its most vulnerable members, the unborn, cannot claim to truly serve the common good.
The recent record of Democratic leadership should give every Catholic serious pause. Under the Biden-Harris administration, inflation surged to a peak of 9.1 percent — the highest in four decades — dramatically eroding family budgets, especially for working-class households. Border encounters reached unprecedented levels, with over 10 million nationwide encounters recorded. These are not abstract statistics. They represent real suffering: strained communities, overwhelmed social services, and families bearing the cost of failed policies.
Many Catholics also remember the troubling institutional behavior during those years — the weaponization of federal agencies against political opponents, repeated misleading statements to the public, and the lingering damage from the now-discredited Steele dossier that fueled years of national division. These patterns of deception and power consolidation should alarm anyone who values truth and the rule of law.
Some Catholics defend their voting choices by recalling the Democratic Party’s historical association with working people and civil rights. Yet history also records that the same party long defended Jim Crow laws and segregation in the South. While parties have evolved and realigned over time, the principle remains: loyalty to any political tribe must never supersede loyalty to Christ and His Church.
The deeper problem is not political — it is spiritual. When party loyalty consistently overrides clear Catholic moral teaching, something fundamental has shifted. Too many Catholics have absorbed the surrounding culture’s priorities rather than transforming it. This is not mere “apathy.” It is a failure to form conscience according to the light of faith.
The Church does not tell Catholics which party to join. Good Catholics can and do reach different prudential judgments on many policy questions. What the Church does demand is that we never treat the direct killing of the innocent as just one issue among many. Life is the foundation upon which every other right rests.
Brothers and sisters, we cannot keep repeating the same mistake election after election. It is time for Catholics to recover a truly prophetic voice in American public life — one that refuses to subordinate the sanctity of life to partisan convenience. Our vote is not just a civic duty. It is a moral act for which we will answer to God.
The stakes could not be higher. The unborn cannot speak for themselves. In their silence, will faithful Catholics finally find their voice?
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I have a theory that if I think one way of something there’s at least 10,000 others who think the same. It is in this belief that I would submit the following view. Is it your belief that one sin outweighs all others? Would you advise your congregations worldwide in this official format to turn a blind eye to all other sins commited to favor one political party over another? Our Lord teaches us there is only one “unforgivable sin”; blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Your view expressed here is not in line with scripture. While the death of a child is held especially grievous by most in our society, it is not to the exclusion of all other sin. We serve a loving God who forgives even the most grievous of sins if we repent, confess and sin no more according to scripture. Would you truly endorse a wicked political party turning a blind eye to the warmongering, cruel and murderous behavior of that persons party? I continue to pray for the Catholic Church and its leaders that they will “lead” in truth, teaching Our Lord’s true life and way. May the Most High have mercy on us all through His Beloved Son; Our Redeemer Christ Jesus, Amen
Thank you for your thoughtful comment and for praying for the Church and her leaders. I share your desire that we all follow Our Lord’s true way. Let me respond clearly and directly from the Church’s actual teaching, not from any political lens.
The Church does not teach that “one sin outweighs all others” in the sense of forgiveness or personal salvation. Our Lord’s mercy is infinite for every repentant sinner—including those who have supported abortion, as long as we confess, repent, and resolve to sin no more. The unforgivable sin is indeed final impenitence and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (CCC 1864). That is not what this discussion is about.
What the Church does teach is that some acts are intrinsically evil—gravely wrong by their very nature, regardless of intention or circumstances. Direct abortion is one of them: the deliberate and direct killing of an innocent human being. The Catechism calls it “a grave offense against the moral law” (CCC 2271). The U.S. bishops have repeatedly called the protection of unborn life our “preeminent priority” precisely because it is the foundational right. Without the right to life, no other right—healthcare, immigration, economic justice, or peace—can stand.
This is not “turning a blind eye” to other sins. The Church condemns every grave evil: unjust war, the death penalty in most cases today, exploitation of the poor, racism, euthanasia, and more. But the bishops are clear: when a candidate or party makes the legal protection and expansion of abortion a non-negotiable plank of its platform, a Catholic cannot vote for that candidate because of that support. That would be formal cooperation with intrinsic evil. On other issues—war, borders, taxes—faithful Catholics can and do disagree in good conscience about the best prudential means. On the direct killing of the unborn, there is no such room.
The Democratic Party’s current platform explicitly celebrates and promises to codify unlimited abortion, including late-term. That is not “one issue among many.” It is a policy that directly contradicts the Gospel of Life. The Church does not tell Catholics which party to join. She tells us we may never subordinate the sanctity of life to partisan loyalty.
Scripture is unambiguous: “You shall not kill” (Ex 20:13). The prophet Jeremiah was called “before I formed you in the womb” (Jer 1:5). The early Church condemned abortion as murder. Nothing has changed.
We are not asked to be blind to other evils. We are asked to form our consciences according to the fullness of Catholic teaching and to refuse to treat the legalized killing of the innocent as just another policy disagreement. That is not judgmentalism—it is fidelity to Christ, who said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40)—and the least of these includes the child in the womb.
May the Holy Spirit guide all of us into deeper conversion, so that our politics reflect the Gospel rather than the other way around. I join you in praying for the Church and for our country.