Catholics in Politics

Can a Catholic win the Presidential election? Can Catholics, in good conscience, vote for any of the Catholic candidates?

Rudy Guliani is a Republican. He supports the war effort. He also supports abortion rights and gay marriage.

Sam Brownback is a Republican. He is pro-life. However, he supports the war effort and has supported the death penalty.

Tommy Thompson is a Republican. He is pro-life. However, he is opposes the war in Iraq. He also supports embryonic stem cell research.

In the last election, John Kerry ran as a Democrat. He is pro-abortion. Who knows where he stands on the war in Iraq? He opposes the death penalty.

It seems that the ideal Catholic candidate would be pro-life, anti-gay marriage, opposed to the war in Iraq, against embryonic stem cell research and opposed to the death penalty. In order for such a candidate to win the nomination of either party, the platforms of both parties would have to be modified toward more centrist positions. As long as we have the two party electoral system where the goal of both parties is to obtain and maintain the power of the majority, that won't happen. As a result, we will not see a Democrat or Republican Catholic in the White House in the foreseeable future.