Catholics do well to make the Pope's focus their own as they enter the polling booth on Tuesday. His comprehensive pro-life concerns seem much more in tune with Jesus' Gospel than Republican pro-birthers would like us to believe.

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On September 6^th, the Washington Post published a report called "White Catholics Struggle to Get on Board the Trump Train." The article's assumption was that obviously Caucasian Catholics are expected to vote Republican. However, the report noted, some are having second thoughts in the light of the Trump candidacy -- presumably because of his waffling on the issue of abortion.

Unexplainably, the Post article completely ignored the overall progressive thrust of Pope Francis' teaching and the un-Republican influence it might be having on Catholic voters. Instead, it bolstered its "of course" assumption about Catholics voting Republican by puzzling over the fact that four years ago Catholics who attended Mass at least once a month favored Mitt Romney by 38 points. This year, Donald Trump's lead among such Catholics has shrunk to 17 points.

True, the WaPo article did suggest that Pope Francis might have something to do with the trends it described. After all, Francis had explicitly intimated that Mr. Trump was unchristian for intending to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Followers of Jesus, Francis said, build bridges, not walls. In response Trump dismissed the pope as "very political."

However, the Postcompletely ignored the issues of climate change, a world economy based on arms manufacture, capital punishment, and world-wide income disparities -- Pope Francis' signature issues that he himself highlighted in his speechlast year to the U.S. Congress.

The Post carried on as if that speech and the pope's landmark encyclicalon climate change had never occurred. It was as though the Church were still mired in the reactionary era of John Paul IIand Benedict XVI, when Catholics seemed obsessed with one issue alone: abortion without connecting it (as Francis has done) to problems of poverty, war, environmental destruction, and an overwhelmingly punitive "justice" system.

That is, Pope Francis has substituted a comprehensive pro-life agenda for his predecessors' narrow pro-birth position.

So how should Catholics vote who are tuned into Pope Francis' more expansive moral concerns? According to the pope's eco-encyclical, his Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel , and his address to the U.S. Congress, Catholics should vote:

*Against climate change deniers and for those who share the pope's climate concerns.

*Against champions of dirty fossil fuels and in favor of those supporting alternative, renewable energy sources.

*Against those who would exclude refugees from finding shelter in the United States and in favor of those advocating sanctuary.

*Against those who favor arms sales abroad and in favor of proponents of divestment from the arms industry.

*Against champions of capital punishment and in favor of those calling for its abolition.

*Against those proposing tax cuts for the wealthy and in favor of increased redistributive taxes on their incomes.

*Against those whose answers to global terrorism are war, bombing, and drone assassinations, and in favor of those who offer legal and diplomatic solutions to the problem of national security.

*Against those who are selective in their "pro-life" advocacy, and for those who connect respect for life not just with abortion, but with providing care for unwanted children brought to term, with clean energy, environmental protection, universal health care, investment in public education, and opposition to capital punishment and war.

The above list reveals that Pope Francis' concerns have been virtually ignored in an election cycle that has concentrated on personalities -- sexual proclivities and e-mails.

Nevertheless, Catholics do well to make the Pope's focus their own as they enter the polling booth on Tuesday. His comprehensive pro-life concerns seem much more in tune with Jesus' Gospel than Republican pro-birthers would like us to believe.

Authors Website: http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/

Authors Bio:

Mike Rivage-Seul is a liberation theologian and former Roman Catholic priest. His undergraduate degree in philosophy was received from St. Columban's Major Seminary in Milton Massachusetts and awarded through D.C.'s Catholic University. He received his theology licentiate from the Atheneum Anselmianum and his doctorate in moral theology (magna cum laude) from the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome where Mike studied for five years. There he also played club basketball for Eurosport and a team within Rome's Stella Azzurra professional organization. In 1972 he served for a year as coordinator of volunteers in Monsignor Ralph Beiting's Christian Appalachian Project. Then for 40 years, Mike taught theology and general studies at Berea College in Kentucky receiving its Seabury Award for excellence in teaching, Berea's highest faculty award. At Berea, Mike founded its Peace and Social Justice Studies program. He and his wife, Peggy, also organized and started the Berea Interfaith Taskforce for Peace. For years, he periodically taught liberation theology in a Latin American Studies Program in Costa Rica sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. In Costa Rica Mike and Peggy were fellows at the liberation theology research institute, the Departamento Ecumenico de Investigaciones (DEI) headed by the great Franz Hinkelammert. In Mexico, they also served as fellows and program directors in San Miguel de Allende's Center for Global Justice. Mike's studies and teaching have brought him to countries across Europe and to Cuba (on 10 occasions), Nicaragua (12 occasions), Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Israel, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Brazil where he and Peggy were associates of Paulo Freire. Mike's languages include Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. For three years he was a monthly columnist at the Lexington Herald-Leader in Lexington Kentucky. He has contributed more than 400 articles to the online news source OpEdNews where he is a senior editor. He has also published in the DEI's Pasos Journal, in the National Catholic Reporter and Christianity Today. His scholarship has been cited in the New York Times. Mike has authored or edited 10 books including one of poetry and a novel based on his experiences in Cuba. His latest book is The Magic Glasses of Critical Thinking: seeing through alternative fact & fake news (Peter Lang publishers). He blogs at http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/ Attempting to appropriate his identity as an ordained exorcist (all Catholic priests are), Mike also reads Tarot cards. He is a lifelong golfer and Chicago Cubs fan.