Getting out to vote: A question of conscience for the common good

Julian Paparella

Friday, April 25, 2025

Photo from iStock.

This week, the hearts and minds of Catholics around the world are turning towards the Vatican, remembering Pope Francis. Cardinals from across the globe will be travelling to Rome, to participate in the funeral celebrations and then gather in conclave to elect the next Successor of Peter. They will ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to elect the one among them they feel is best suited to guide the Church in the midst of today’s world.

In Canada, this period of remembrance and mourning happens to coincide with an election of our own. It won’t occur under the frescoed ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but in neighbourhood polling stations from sea to sea. As Catholics, we do not elect our pope. Yet as Pope Francis reminded us on countless occasions, we have a duty to be involved in the life of society, working towards a more just, peaceful, and fraternal world. At this time of discernment for our Church and our country, we are called to exercise the sacred responsibility to vote for those who will guide our nation moving forward.

From a Christian point of view, choosing whether or not to vote is not merely a political decision, but also a moral one. Voter turnout in many places shows that exercising the right to vote is not necessarily a top priority. Many people “elect” not to vote. Yet voting is brought into sharper focus when we realize how many people around the world cannot vote. Indeed, the vast majority of human beings throughout history have not been able to elect their government. Today, we might choose not to vote out of a certain complacency regarding the state of our society, thinking that things are fine as they are or that they will never change. We may be tempted to think that one single vote doesn’t really matter, or be disillusioned by politics in general – “All politicians are the same.” Some of these thoughts may be legitimate, but if for no other reason, we ought to vote as a matter of justice: for it would be unjust to take for granted and leave by the wayside a right denied to so many of our fellow human beings, down through the ages and across the globe today.

Next comes the question of who to vote for. From a Christian perspective, no party is perfect. No platform or slogan contains the solutions to every problem. No one politician can make everything right, fulfill every promise, or wipe away all injustice. Such high expectations are not attainable by any government, no matter how many election promises political parties may make. There is the risk of turning politicians into messianic figures, believing that they will “save” us. This puts too much faith in politics.

However, while political power cannot do everything, it can in fact do something, and make a difference either positively or negatively. Political decisions affect people’s lives. What politicians say and do – as well as what they don’t say and don’t do – has an impact on both the present and future.

The question then is discerning which candidate or party is best suited to seek the common good at a given point in history. It is figuring out how one’s vote can best serve not just one’s personal interests, but the good of the whole. This is where the principle of the common good comes in.

The common good is not about imposing strict collectivism, whereby the good of the individual is crushed by the good of the whole. Nor is it about individualism, in which the good of the whole is sacrificed to the good of the individual. Rather, it is about bringing the good of the individual and of the whole into harmony and realizing that each depends on the other. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church describes it this way:

A society that wishes and intends to remain at the service of the human being at every level is a society that has the common good — the good of all people and of the whole person — as its primary goal. The human person cannot find fulfilment in him or herself, that is, apart from the fact that he or she exists "with" others and ‘for’ others. […] The common good therefore involves all members of society, no one is exempt from cooperating, according to each person’s possibilities, in attaining it and developing it (#165, 167).

On the one hand, the Compendium explains that working towards the common good relies on every member of society. It is up to all of us. On the other hand, there is a particular responsibility on governments and elected officials, who make decisions that affect the good of their citizens and society overall. According to the Compendium, it is for the sake of the common good that political office exists in the first place: “The responsibility for attaining the common good, besides falling to individual persons, belongs also to the State, since the common good is the reason that the political authority exists” (#168).

In electoral democracies – where citizens choose their political leaders – each election is an opportunity to vote for who will work most effectively for the common good of society. This does not mean that we necessarily agree with every policy in a party’s platform, or that the leader will be able to solve every problem. After all, we are not electing a Messiah! Rather, considering all the options, we are called to vote for the party or candidate that we think best represents what is most important for the good of society at this point in history.

Lord, we place into Your hands the future of our Church and our world, recognizing that you call us to do our part to work towards a more just, peaceful society for all. Amen.