If a Catholic priest or bishop says you can't vote for Joe Biden because of his position on abortion, politely remind him that is NOT church teaching. A thread.

The U.S. bishops' Faithful Citizenship document acknowledges the moral complexity of voting. The bishops write that "abortion," "racist behavior" and "subjecting workers or the poor to subhuman living conditions" are all "intrinsically evil."

To summarize: Catholic teaching on voting is complicated. It requires prudence. It doesn't fit on a bumper sticker. (or in a single tweet). Abortion is not the only life issue. Have an informed conscience. Vote for the common good.

Pope Francis on racism: "We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life."

And, finally, in case you needed a reminder, Francis is the Pope. The lives of the poor and "those already born" are as "equally sacred" as life in the womb, he said.

Bishop Stowe: "For this president to call himself pro-life, and for anybody to back him because of claims of being pro-life, is almost willful ignorance. He is so much anti-life because he is only concerned about himself, and he gives us every, every, every indication of that."

Bishop McElory of San Diego: "To say that abortion is the pre-eminent issue in a particular political season is to reduce the common good, in effect, to one issue."

the slashing of social support for the poor and sick, racism and the exploitation of immigrants and the environment.”

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso: “In pursuit of ‘single-issue’ strategies to end abortion,” many Christians “scandalously turned a blind eye to real breakdowns in solidarity and dehumanizing policies, including crackdowns on worker rights and voting rights...

While a few loud conservative bishops have essentially endorsed Trump and departed from church teaching to tell their flock they can't vote for Biden, other bishops are not so reckless.

Cardinal Ratzinger in 2004. "When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons”

As the bishops note: "A voter should not use a candidate's opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity."

Now here is where Catholic moral theology comes into play. If your reason for supporting Biden is his position on reproductive rights, that's considered wrong. If your reason for supporting Trump is his racism or nativism, also wrong. *Intentions* matter in Catholic teaching.