Issues
13 issues scored against Catholic Social Teaching — 4 intrinsic evils and 9 prudential matters. Each section shows all politicians ranked by their final score on that issue.
Intrinsic Evils — 2.0× Multiplier
Abortion
Intrinsic Evil · 2×The Church holds that human life begins at conception and that direct abortion is a grave moral evil that admits no exceptions (Evangelium Vitae §62; CCC 2270–2275).
Apply +0.5 when the broader policy ecosystem actively supports maternal care, paid family leave, adoption infrastructure, and prenatal investment that affirms life. Apply −0.5 when the ecosystem actively undermines these supports.
End of Life Policy
Intrinsic Evil · 2×The Church opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide as violations of human dignity at its most vulnerable moment, while affirming the right to refuse disproportionate treatment and calling for robust palliative care (CCC 2276–2279).
Apply +0.5 when the ecosystem invests in hospice, palliative care, and elderly dignity. Apply −0.5 when assisted dying is expanded without corresponding investment in dignified alternatives.
Torture
Intrinsic Evil · 2×Torture — the deliberate infliction of severe physical or mental suffering on a person — is intrinsically evil and unconditionally prohibited regardless of motive (CCC 2297–2298; Gaudium et Spes §27).
Apply +0.5 when the broader institutional ecosystem (law enforcement standards, detention policy, military doctrine) reinforces human dignity norms. Apply −0.5 when rhetoric or policy normalizes dehumanizing treatment.
Capital Punishment
Intrinsic Evil · 2×The Church holds capital punishment inadmissible in all cases, as it violates human dignity and forecloses the possibility of repentance and rehabilitation (CCC 2267; Pope Francis, Letter to the Bishops, 2018).
Apply +0.5 when the ecosystem moves toward abolition through DA reform, sentencing reform, and decarceration investment. Apply −0.5 when execution is expanded or rhetoric endorses its use.
Prudential Issues — 1.0× Multiplier
Immigration
Prudential · 1×The Church affirms the right to migrate in search of safety and a dignified life, the duty of receiving nations to welcome migrants to the extent possible, and the obligation to treat all migrants with the dignity owed to human persons (CCC 2241; Laudato Si §175; Strangers No Longer).
Apply +0.5 when the enforcement and integration ecosystem actively supports migrant dignity through legal aid, healthcare access, and pathways to stability. Apply −0.5 when the ecosystem employs mass enforcement, family separation, or dehumanizing detention.
Labor Rights
Prudential · 1×Work is a fundamental expression of human dignity. The right to organize, to receive just wages, and to safe working conditions are not privileges but duties owed by society (Rerum Novarum; Laborem Exercens §§6–10; Centesimus Annus §15).
Apply +0.5 when the policy ecosystem actively protects collective bargaining, enforces just wages, and invests in worker dignity. Apply −0.5 when the ecosystem undermines unions, suppresses wages, or strips worker protections.
Criminal Justice Reform
Prudential · 1×Punishment must serve rehabilitation and reintegration, not retribution. The Church calls for restorative justice, humane conditions of incarceration, and investment in healing broken social bonds (Compendium of the Social Doctrine §§402–405).
Apply +0.5 when the ecosystem invests in reentry, rehabilitation, and restorative alternatives to incarceration. Apply −0.5 when retributive rhetoric, mass incarceration, or punitive excess characterize the policy environment.
Healthcare
Prudential · 1×Access to healthcare is a right rooted in human dignity. Society has an obligation to ensure that all people — especially the poorest — can receive the medical care necessary to live a dignified life (Caritas in Veritate §43; Compendium §166).
Apply +0.5 when the policy ecosystem moves toward universal coverage and eliminates barriers for the vulnerable. Apply −0.5 when cuts to Medicaid, uninsurance, or coverage gaps disproportionately harm the poor.
Housing
Prudential · 1×Adequate shelter is a fundamental human right. Society must ensure that no person is left without a home through active public investment, fair housing enforcement, and protection of the vulnerable from displacement (Gaudium et Spes §26; Compendium §167).
Apply +0.5 when the ecosystem includes meaningful affordable housing investment, tenant protections, and homelessness reduction. Apply −0.5 when deregulation, displacement, or speculative housing markets price out the poor.
Foreign Aid & Global Poverty
Prudential · 1×The goods of the earth are destined for all of humanity. Wealthy nations bear a positive duty of solidarity to the global poor through foreign aid, debt relief, fair trade, and international development investment (Populorum Progressio §§43–55; Caritas in Veritate §§36–38).
Apply +0.5 when the ecosystem actively advances global solidarity through robust international development investment. Apply −0.5 when foreign aid is weaponized as leverage, systematically cut, or withdrawn from multilateral institutions.
Economic Policy
Prudential · 1×Economic systems must be evaluated by their treatment of the poorest. The Church demands a preferential option for the poor, condemns structural sin that produces inequality, and calls for economic institutions that serve human dignity rather than profit alone (Centesimus Annus §§11–12; Laudato Si §§109–110).
Apply +0.5 when the economic ecosystem — tax policy, regulation, labor standards — systematically prioritizes the poor and reduces inequality. Apply −0.5 when the ecosystem concentrates wealth, erodes safety nets, or externalizes costs onto the vulnerable.
Environment
Prudential · 1×Care for creation is a moral obligation, not a political preference. The earth belongs to all, and environmental degradation is a form of injustice that disproportionately harms the poor. Climate change is a moral crisis requiring urgent collective action (Laudato Si §§24–26, 49–52; Laudate Deum).
Apply +0.5 when the policy ecosystem includes binding climate targets, clean energy investment, and environmental justice provisions. Apply −0.5 when the ecosystem actively rolls back protections, enables fossil fuel expansion, or denies climate science in policy.
Foreign Wars & Interventions
Prudential · 1×War is permissible only as a last resort, when all peaceful means have been exhausted, and only when conducted with strict proportionality and discrimination between combatants and civilians. Arms sales without humanitarian conditionality are complicit in unjust violence (CCC 2309; Gaudium et Spes §§78–82; Compendium §§438–442).
Apply +0.5 when the policy ecosystem applies humanitarian conditionality, pursues diplomacy first, and reduces arms transfer to regimes committing atrocities. Apply −0.5 when unconditional arms transfers, veto of ceasefire resolutions, or rejection of diplomatic options characterize the posture.
Scores are final issue scores (doctrinal + ecosystem adjustment). Divergence flags (⚑) indicate cases where a politician's rhetoric contradicts their legislative record. Full methodology →