POPE FRANCIS HAS described the upcoming US election as a choice between “the lesser of two evils”.

Speaking at the conclusion of his longest trip as Pope – a 12-day tour of Asia – Francis claimed both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are “against life”.

Before the papal plane departed for Rome, Pope Francis was asked by a reporter if it would be permissible for a Catholic to vote for a candidate who supports abortion.

Harris has strongly defended abortion rights throughout the presidential election campaign.

Francis said it is “ugly” to not vote and added that “one has to choose the lesser of two evils”.

While not naming either candidate, Francis told reporters that “they are both against life – the one who throws away migrants and the one who supports killing babies”.

“Who is the lesser evil? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone has to think and make this decision according to their conscience,” Francis said.

He added: “I am not an American and I will not be voting there.

“But let it be clear: both sending migrants away and not giving migrants the ability to work or welcoming them is a sin, it is serious.”

Francis added that migration is a “right” and that anyone who does not follow the Biblical call to welcome the stranger is committing a “grave sin”.

He also remarked that he recently celebrated Mass at the US-Mexico border and “there were so many shoes of the migrants who ended up badly there”.

Former president Trump has promised to round up illegal immigrants and deport them as he seeks to return to the White House in the looming November election.

At the end of August, Pope Francis used his weekly general audience from St Peter’s Square in Vatican City to strongly denounce the treatment of migrants seeking to enter Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

Pope Francis unveils 'Angels Unaware' sculpture to mark Migrant and Refugee World Day in St. Peter's Square in 2019 Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

He labelled it a “grave sin” to “drive away migrants” and said that “migrants should not be in those seas and in those lethal deserts”.

Francis also denounced “restrictive laws and the militarisation of borders” and called for an “expansion of safe and legal avenues for migrants”.

According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, 4,110 people died or went missing while crossing the Mediterranean Sea in 2023.

Pope Francis said the “tragedy is that the majority of these deaths could have been prevented” and added that “indifference and an attitude of rejection is what kills migrants”.

Meanwhile, 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-Mexican border.

He declared then that anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants “is not Christian”.