ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE: Pope Francis on Friday slammed both US presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and he advised American Catholics to choose who they think is the “lesser evil” in the upcoming US elections.
“Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,” Francis said.
The Argentine Jesuit was asked to provide counsel to American Catholic voters during an airborne news conference while he flew back to Rome from his four-nation tour through Asia. Francis stressed that he is not an American and would not be voting.
Neither Republican candidate Donald Trump nor the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, was mentioned by name.
But Francis nevertheless expressed himself in stark terms when asked to weigh in on their positions on two hot-button issues in the US election — abortion and migration — that are also of major concern to the Catholic Church.
Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his pontificate and speaks out emphatically and frequently about it. While strongly upholding church teaching forbidding abortion, Francis has not emphasized church doctrine as much as his predecessors.
Francis said migration is a right described in Scripture and that anyone who does not follow the Biblical call to welcome the stranger is committing a “grave sin.”
He was also blunt in speaking about abortion. “To have an abortion is to kill a human being. You may like the word or not, but it’s killing,” he said. “We have to see this clearly.”
Asked what voters should do at the polls, Francis recalled the civic duty to vote.
“One should vote, and choose the lesser evil,” he said. “Who is the lesser evil, the woman or man? I don’t know.
“Everyone in their conscience should think and do it,” he said.
It’s not the first time Francis has weighed in on a US election. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Francis was asked about Trump’s plan to build a wall at the US-Mexico border. Francis declared then that anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants “is not Christian.”
In responding Friday, Francis recalled that he celebrated Mass at the US-Mexico border and “there were so many shoes of the migrants who ended up badly there.”
Trump pledges massive deportations, just as he did in his first White House bid, when there was a vast gulf between his ambitions and the legal, financial and political realities of such an undertaking.
The US bishops conference, for its part, has called abortion the “preeminent priority” for American Catholics in its published voter advice. Harris has strongly defended abortion rights and has emphasized support for reinstating a federal right to abortion.
In his comments, the pope added: “On abortion, science says that a month from conception, all the organs of a human being are already there, all of them. Performing an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you like the word or not, this is killing. You can’t say the church is closed because it does not allow abortion. The church does not allow abortion because it’s killing. It is murder.”
However, cells are only beginning the process of developing organs in the earliest weeks of pregnancy. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that by 13 weeks, all major organs have formed. For example, cardiac tissue starts to form in the first two months — initially a tube that only later evolves into the four chambers that define a heart.
Pope slams Harris and Trump on anti-life stances, urges Catholics to vote for ‘lesser evil’
https://arab.news/rrznm
Pope slams Harris and Trump on anti-life stances, urges Catholics to vote for ‘lesser evil’
India accelerates free trade agreements against backdrop of US tariffs
- India signed a CEPA with Oman on Thursday and a CETA with the UK in July
- Delhi is also in advanced talks for trade pacts with the EU, New Zealand, Chile
NEW DELHI: India has accelerated discussions to finalize free trade agreements with several nations, as New Delhi seeks to offset the impact of steep US import tariffs and widen export destinations amid uncertainties in global trade.
India signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Oman on Thursday, which allows India to export most of its goods without paying tariffs, covering 98 percent of the total value of India’s exports to the Gulf nation.
The deal comes less than five months after a multibillion-dollar trade agreement with the UK, which cut tariffs on goods from cars to alcohol, and as Indian trade negotiators are in advanced talks with New Zealand, the EU and Chile for similar partnerships.
They are part of India’s “ongoing efforts to expand its trade network and liberalize its trade,” said Anupam Manur, professor of economics at the Takshashila Institution.
“The renewed efforts to sign bilateral FTAs are partly an after-effect of New Delhi realizing the importance of diversifying trade partners, especially after India’s biggest export market, the US, levied tariff rates of up to 50 percent on India.”
Indian exporters have been hit hard by the hefty tariffs that went into effect in August.
Months of negotiations with Washington have not clarified when a trade deal to bring down the tariffs would be signed, while the levies have weighed on sectors such as textiles, auto components, metals and labor-intensive manufacturing.
The FTAs with other nations will “help partially in mitigating the effects of US tariffs,” Manur said.
In particular, Oman can “act as a gateway to other Gulf countries and even parts of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Africa,” and the free trade deal will most likely benefit “labor-intensive sectors in India,” he added.
The chances of concluding a deal with Washington “will prove to be difficult,” said Arun Kumar, a retired economics professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“With the US, the chances of coming to (an agreement) are a bit difficult, because they want to get our agriculture market open, which we cannot do. They want us to reduce trade with Russia. That’s also difficult for India to do,” he told Arab News.
US President Donald Trump has threatened sanctions over India’s historic ties with Moscow and its imports of Russian oil, which Washington says help fund Moscow’s ongoing war with Ukraine.
“President Trump is constantly creating new problems, like with H-1B visa and so on now. So some difficulty or the other is expected. That’s why India is trying to build relationships with other nations,” Kumar said, referring to increased vetting and delays under the Trump administration for foreign workers, who include a large number of Indian nationals.
“Substituting for the US market is going to be tough. So certainly, I think India should do what it can do in terms of promoting trade with other countries.”
India has free trade agreements with more than 10 countries, including comprehensive economic partnership agreements with South Korea, Japan, and the UAE.
It is in talks with the EU to conclude an FTA, amid new negotiations launched this year for trade agreements, including with New Zealand and Chile.
India’s approach to trade partnerships has been “totally transformed,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a press briefing following the signing of the CEPA with Oman, which Indian officials aim to enter into force in three months.
“Now we don’t do FTAs with other developing nations; our focus is on the developed world, with whom we don’t compete,” he said. “We complement and therefore open up huge opportunities for our industry, for our manufactured goods, for our services.”
