Dialogue Before Doctrine

According to a poll of battleground states conducted by the National Catholic Reporter, 75 percent of Catholics who voted for Trump did so at least in part because of his stance on immigration. The same poll reported that half of the Catholics who voted for Harris did so at least in part because of her stance on abortion. Neither group seemed troubled by the fact that both Pope Francis and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) consistently supported immigrant rights and opposed abortion. Catholic voters seem to be disregarding the most fundamental instruction of the U.S. bishops on this score: while you may vote for a candidate who happens to disagree with Church teaching, you must not vote for them because of that disagreement. To the extent that Catholics of either party are casting votes motivated by policy stances contrary to Church teaching, that teaching has become irrelevant to American politics.