EDITORIAL

Eradicating abortion and euthanasia, protecting life primary in political deliberation

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Every electoral cycle, Catholics hold significant sway over who will ultimately win the Presidency. But Catholics do not comprise a homogenous voting bloc in comparison to other religious denominations. In some ways, this makes sense. After all, the Church is not a political party. The Mystical Body of Christ transcends the political order, while still recognizing its natural role in achieving human flourishing. Thus, Catholics can legitimately disagree about the persuasiveness of candidates or the effectiveness of their policies. As Cardinal Ratzinger taught, there may be a legitimate diversity of opinion about certain prudential decisions affecting the polity, such as waging war or applying the death penalty. Sadly, however, the contemporary political arena has evaded the possibility of many political discussions due to the consistent assault against human life proffered by some candidates.
Diverse political persuasions can be healthy in a democracy; but when those political opinions diverge on whether to protect innocent human life, compromise is simply not possible. Ratzinger thus also insisted that there cannot be a diversity of opinion in politics with regard to issues such as abortion and euthanasia, because they are intrinsic moral evils. Undoubtedly, the Church does not and will not endorse any particular candidate. But the Church emphatically teaches that eradicating the evils of abortion and euthanasia, and protecting the inviolable right to life, are primary in the order of political deliberation.