Texas bishops congratulate Democratic winners, reaffirm pro-life and family agenda
Texas’ Catholic bishops congratulated the winners of the midterm elections and prayed for wisdom as they take office. The bishops reaffirmed priorities for the upcoming legislative session, including protecting human life, strengthening families, caring for vulnerable people and promoting the common good. Their agenda supports assistance for parents and abortion alternatives, opposes euthanasia, IVF and surrogacy, and calls for ethical AI safeguards and steps to address gun violence. Texas Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson said he would not continue lawsuits against out-of-state abortion-pill providers; Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller urged Catholics to remain engaged in civic life.
14 hours ago
Texas Catholic bishops congratulated Democrats who won every major statewide office in the 2026 midterms and gained a majority in the state House, while saying their policy principles remain unchanged. They prayed for the incoming officials and restated priorities centered on human dignity, family, care for vulnerable people, and the common good.
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops said it would continue advocating for policies that uphold human dignity, strengthen families, care for vulnerable people and creation, and promote the common good. Its agenda describes human life as deserving legal protection from conception through natural death and the family as a place where parents teach children how to live.
The bishops support funding for abortion alternatives and assistance for parents, including kinship, foster, and adoptive families. They oppose euthanasia, in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, the advancement of gender ideology—particularly where young people are affected—and efforts to weaken protections for unborn life; they also call for ethical development of artificial intelligence and reasonable measures to address gun violence.
Attorney general-elect Nathan Johnson, a Democrat who supports abortion rights, has said he will not continue outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuits against out-of-state providers accused of mailing abortion pills into Texas. Johnson said he would respect other states’ shield laws and would not enforce Texas’ pro-life laws.
John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, criticized Johnson’s position, arguing that the attorney general’s responsibility is to enforce state law. Seago also said abortion-pill trafficking could enable abusive men to secretly give pills to pregnant women.
San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller called on Catholics to remain engaged in civic life after the election and to put faith before politics. He highlighted priorities associated with Pope Leo XIV, including protecting human life and religious freedom, promoting families, upholding the dignity of migrants and prisoners, and building consensus through political dialogue.
García-Siller urged unity after what he described as a bruising campaign season, and prayed for peace and wisdom for public officials. Republicans retained control of the Texas Senate, which pro-life advocates cited as a possible check on legislative changes.
Catholic social teaching on moral responsibilities in democratic governance
Catholic social teaching regards democratic governance as a valuable form of political participation, but not as a source of moral truth in itself. Its legitimacy depends on whether it respects human dignity, serves the common good, protects basic rights, and allows citizens to participate and hold those in authority accountable. Citizens and officeholders therefore share moral responsibilities: political life is not merely a contest for power or party advantage, but a field of service shaped by conscience and justice.
The Church values democracy because it gives citizens a role in political choices, allows them to elect and hold leaders accountable, and permits governments to be replaced peacefully. It also opposes the capture of state power by narrow groups pursuing private interests or ideological control. But democratic procedures alone do not make a policy just: a majority vote cannot turn an attack on human dignity into a moral good. Authentic democracy requires both the rule of law and a sound understanding of the human person.
This is why Catholic teaching rejects moral relativism—the idea that no objective moral standards can guide public life. People may reasonably disagree about many policies, but democratic debate needs more than competing interests or shifting majorities; it needs a commitment to justice and to the worth and rights of every person. John Paul II warned that when politics and law are cut off from objective moral standards, democracy risks becoming a struggle for power rather than a way of serving the common good.
Political participation is broader than voting. The Church calls citizens to take an active part in public life according to their circumstances and abilities, contributing to choices that affect the community. The Ukrainian Catholic catechism names practical civic duties including voting, paying taxes, obeying the law, solidarity with others, and mutual respect; it also describes citizens as responsible for the welfare of society at local, regional, and national levels.
Participation also includes learning about public issues, communicating with representatives, and taking part in civic or community life where one can contribute. These are examples of how the broader duty to participate may be lived; they are not a claim that every citizen must take part in every political activity. The central point is that Catholics should not withdraw from public life simply because politics is difficult or contentious. The US bishops describe this responsibility as rooted in baptismal life and the obligation to promote the common good.
Democratic participation calls for virtues, not merely activity. Responsibility, honesty, justice, respect, truthfulness, diligence, a sense of duty, solidarity, and concern for the common good are all named as moral qualities necessary for democratic society to survive and flourish. In practice, those virtues call citizens to consider how decisions affect people beyond their own group or immediate interests, and to engage others with respect even amid serious disagreement.
Catholics should form their political judgments through a well-formed conscience: one educated by moral truth and attentive to the concrete circumstances of public questions. A conscience is not simply a personal preference or a party identity. The US bishops caution that attachment to a party or interest group must not lead Catholics to deny fundamental moral truths or approve intrinsically evil acts. They also stress that political participation should be guided by concern for every person’s dignity and for the weak and vulnerable.
That does not mean the Church prescribes one party or a single detailed platform. Catholics may choose among different parties and policy approaches that are compatible with the faith and natural moral law. On many issues, more than one morally acceptable policy may serve the same basic value, and technical or local circumstances may lead people to different conclusions. The Church’s role is not to settle every prudential political question, but it does have the right and duty to offer moral judgment when faith or the moral law requires it.
Thus, voting well involves both moral principles and practical judgment. A voter should consider what a candidate or policy proposes, how it affects the common good, and whether it respects fundamental moral goods. Catholic teaching does not reduce political judgment to a mechanical checklist, nor does it treat every policy disagreement as a matter of settled doctrine. It does insist, however, that political freedom is not the freedom to treat every account of human good as equally true.
Those who seek or hold public office have particular obligations because their decisions affect the rights and welfare of others. They should act with integrity and justice, respect the moral law, and avoid compromising their faith for political advantage. The Ukrainian Catholic catechism says that public service requires moral formation permeated by Gospel principles; Pius XII likewise emphasized the need for objectivity, impartiality, loyalty, generosity, integrity, practical ability, and intellectual capacity in democratic officeholders.
A public official’s duty is not simply to impose personal religious convictions through law. Catholic citizens are called to contribute to public life while respecting the proper autonomy of political and social institutions and cooperating with others according to their competence and responsibilities. At the same time, the Church does not regard the state as morally neutral in the sense that any law or policy is acceptable if enacted through proper procedures. Political authority is accountable to moral truth and the common good.
The common good is the good of the whole community, not merely the advantage of the largest group, the most influential citizens, or one political faction. Catholic participation therefore aims at social conditions in which people can live with dignity and contribute to society. The Compendium links democratic legitimacy to participation and shared responsibility, while the US bishops emphasize the dignity of each person and the protection of the weak and vulnerable.
The Church contributes by teaching moral and social principles, helping form consciences, and encouraging the faithful to take responsibility in public life. The US bishops distinguish this teaching role from endorsing or opposing candidates. That distinction matters: Catholic social teaching offers moral guidance for political judgment, but it does not make the Church a political party or claim that every disputed policy has one uniquely Catholic solution.
In short, Catholic responsibility in a democracy is both civic and moral: participate, seek the good of all, respect legitimate differences about policy, and refuse to separate political choices from truth and human dignity. The democratic process is valuable, but its lasting health depends not only on institutions and procedures; it also depends on citizens and leaders who use political freedom responsibly and pursue justice rather than power for its own sake.