Pittsburgh Bishop Zubik issues letter as pundits call Catholic vote 'crucial' to presidential race

Pittsburgh Catholic Bishop David A. Zubik won’t endorse either presidential candidate.

By federal law, he isn’t allowed to in his official capacity. Church law also bans clergy from making endorsements.

But Zubik, the spiritual leader of more than 600,000 Catholics in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington counties, said he’s been receiving daily “anguished messages” from people asking about whom they should vote for in the election.

He issued an open letter to Catholics this week explaining his position and directing them to a voters guide posted on the diocesan website.

“From the perspective of Catholic social teaching, there are problems with each of the major parties’ platforms and their endorsed candidates,” Zubik writes in the letter, which doesn’t mention Republican President Donald Trump or Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Instead, it asks Catholics to study each candidate’s positions on life issues including abortion, the death penalty and social justice, to pray and to vote their conscience.

“Our vote is one that must be viewed as a moral decision,” Zubik wrote. “I am also reminding and encouraging our priests and deacons not to speak for or against any candidate, particularly from the pulpit.”

Trump has advocated against abortion and has appointed federal judges who share that position, but who also support the death penalty and advocate against other social justice issues that are important to Catholics.

Biden, who is Catholic, supports abortion rights, but is against the death penalty and supports many of the social justice programs that Catholic teaching favors.

“Neither party fully represents Catholic social teaching,” said Michael Coulter, a political science professor at Grove City College.

G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist and professor at Franklin & Marshall College, said in recent polling done by the college, Trump received 52.2% of the Catholic vote, compared to 38.9% for Biden.

Biden leads Trump by 6 percentage points, 48% to 42%, among likely voters in the poll, conducted Sept. 14-20.

“I fully believe the Catholic vote is crucial to a Trump victory in Pennsylvania, particularly in Western Pennsylvania,” said Joe DiSarro, a professor of political science at Washington & Jefferson College. “This is going to be the swing area.”

Despite his faith, Biden isn’t going to appeal to conservative Catholics who are against abortion, and it’s going to be a problem for him, DiSarro said.

“In the Pittsburgh area we have a relatively large percentage of Catholics who are principled and practicing Catholics who find abortion to be an important issue,” DiSarro said. “I think Biden will lose Pennsylvania.”

Philip Harold, a political science professor at Robert Morris University in Moon Township, called the region’s Catholic vote “absolutely crucial” to either candidate.

Traditionally Democratic but socially conservative voters helped Trump win Pennsylvania in 2016, many of them coming from the suburban Pittsburgh area, Harold said.

“I think there’s a very strong appeal Biden could make, I think he could make a strong play in these Catholic areas,” Harold said. “We’ll see where the campaign goes.”