U.S. Bishops Urge Catholic Voters: Start With Your Faith, Discern Your Vote
Ahead of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, U.S. bishops urged Catholics to discern their votes in light of their faith and Church teaching. Archbishop Alexander Sample said Catholics should put their relationship with Jesus first, before national identity or political party. Sample noted that no U.S. political party embodies all Catholic social teaching, which he said should guide voters instead of party platforms. The election comes amid major political and economic debates, including abortion ballot initiatives and the effects of the U.S. war with Iran. Bishops have also encouraged the faithful to pray ahead of the vote.
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U.S. bishops have urged Catholics to approach the 2026 midterm elections through faith, a well-formed conscience, and the Church’s social teaching, rather than party loyalty. Their video messages emphasize prayerful discernment and civic participation directed toward the common good, without prescribing how Catholics should vote.
In a video released Oct. 26, Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample said Catholics should see themselves first as “disciples of Jesus,” then as Americans, and only after that as members of a political party. He urged voters to begin with their relationship with Jesus and consider how faith shapes their views on public issues.
Sample added that no U.S. political party represents the entirety of Catholic social teaching. He said voters should begin with the Church’s social doctrine, rather than a party platform.
Baltimore Archbishop William Lori described conscience as the capacity that calls people to pursue good and avoid evil, and stressed the importance of forming it properly. He encouraged Catholics to slow down amid relentless political news and take time for discernment.
Lori said knowing Church teaching can help Catholics prayerfully consider candidates and ballot measures. He clarified that the bishops’ approach to faithful citizenship is not a list of voting instructions or a voter guide, but a vision of the country at its best.
Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre likewise urged Catholics to keep the desire to be faithful disciples central to their decisions. He said participation in public and political life should advance the common good and uphold every person’s human dignity.
The messages came days before the midterms, which the article described as a possible referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term. It cited the administration’s war with Iran and resulting increases in fuel and other prices as prominent issues in that political context.
The article also noted that bishops had urged prayer ahead of the elections, including amid major ballot initiatives concerning abortion and other issues. As of Oct. 29, Decision Desk HQ forecast likely Democratic victories in both chambers of Congress, including an 80% chance of a Democratic win in the House.
Catholic teaching forms political conscience beyond partisan identity
Catholic teaching forms political conscience by giving Catholics moral principles with which to judge parties, candidates, policies, and their own choices—not by assigning them a party identity or prescribing a vote. Its aim is to help public life serve human dignity and the common good, while preserving the responsibility of each person to make prudent judgments.
In Catholic teaching, conscience is not merely a private feeling or a permission to choose whatever seems right. It is a judgment of reason about the moral quality of a concrete action. That judgment calls for formation: seeking truth, learning the Church’s teaching, examining relevant facts, and reflecting prayerfully. A person remains responsible for acting on conscience, but is also responsible for trying to form it well.
“The truth is something we receive, not something we make.”
That principle cuts against two opposing errors. One is treating personal conviction as automatically correct; the other is handing one’s moral responsibility over to a party, political leader, or voting guide. Catholic formation asks people to seek moral truth and then apply it conscientiously to real circumstances. Because political choices involve complex facts and competing proposals, the bishops emphasize prudence—the practical virtue of discerning the good to be done in a particular situation.
The bishops identify four foundations of Catholic social teaching: the dignity of the human person, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity. These principles provide a framework for evaluating public decisions, rather than a ready-made political platform. Catholic teaching can therefore challenge positions across the political spectrum; the bishops warn against selectively invoking its principles to serve partisan interests.
This is why Catholic political responsibility cannot be reduced to asking which party claims to represent Catholics. The relevant question is whether a choice, policy, or public action is consistent with moral truth and oriented to the good of people and society. The bishops call for politics focused on moral principles, the needs of the weak, and the common good—not merely polls, powerful interests, or partisan advantage.
The Church’s refusal to direct Catholics toward particular candidates is not a claim that political questions are morally unimportant. The bishops say that participation in public life is a responsibility rooted in Christian commitment, and that the Church has a role in teaching moral principles relevant to society. At the same time, they distinguish this teaching role from endorsing candidates: Church leaders form consciences, while lay Catholics make political judgments and participate according to their responsibilities.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith makes a related distinction: the Church’s teaching does not aim to take political power or eliminate legitimate disagreement about contingent questions. It seeks to illuminate conscience so that political action serves the human person and the common good. Catholic convictions, in this view, are not a reason to withdraw from democratic life; they are meant to shape a morally responsible contribution to it.
Partisan affiliation may be part of a person’s civic life, but it cannot become the ultimate measure of moral judgment. The bishops say Catholics should be guided more by moral convictions than by attachment to a party or interest group. They also warn that, when necessary, Catholics should work to change their party rather than allow party loyalty to lead them to deny fundamental moral truths or approve intrinsically evil acts.
That does not mean every political question has an equally clear or uniquely Catholic policy answer. The bishops note that judgments about contingent circumstances may develop and may be open to discussion. Catholics can disagree prudently over how best to pursue a moral good in a particular case. But disagreement does not make the underlying principles optional, nor does prudence mean simply choosing whichever option best serves one’s preferred political identity.
The practical test of Catholic political conscience is whether it helps people act with charity and justice, attend to those who are vulnerable, and promote the common good. The bishops describe political engagement as a worthy vocation and call for a politics that moves beyond attacks and narrow interests. Catholic social teaching thus seeks neither to baptize a party nor to keep faith out of public life: it calls Catholics to bring their moral convictions into civic participation while respecting the proper freedom and responsibility of political judgment.