Issues, Etc. Interview: Responding to Pope Leo’s Recent Comments about Who is Really Pro-Life – Pr. Paul Clark (10/23/25)
by Pastor Paul Clark
It’s like comparing apples with oysters.
You may be thinking, “Wait a minute, Pastor! I think you meant ‘comparing apples with oranges.’” We use that phrase when comparing two things that are in different categories and should not be equated. But if you look into the origin of the phrase, you will find that it compared apples with oysters.
The American Heritage Dictionary says, “This metaphor for dissimilarity began as apples and oysters, which appears in John Ray’s proverb collection of 1670, with the phrase ‘as like as an apple to an oyster.’” It may date back to 1594 to William Shakespeare, in The Taming of the Shrew, where Tranio says, “He is my father, sir, and sooth to say, in countenance somewhat doth resemble you.” To which Biondello replies, “As much as an apple doth to an oyster.”
Whether apples and oysters or apples and oranges—what’s my point?
This past week Pope Leo said, “Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion’ but says ‘I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really prolife. Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
I can’t let that one slide by without rebuke. He’s wrong. Comparing abortion with capital punishment, or with immigration policy, is like comparing apples with oysters.
Abortion is the killing of an unborn baby, the extermination of a new life, fully human and innocent of any wrongdoing. One of the things God hates, according to Proverbs 6:17, are “hands that shed innocent blood.” Innocent blood certainly describes a tiny unborn child who is slaughtered before he or she has the chance to be born. That baby, whom God “knitted together” in the mother’s womb, is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Our Lord and Savior Jesus loves the little children. He warned of great judgment against anyone who deliberately sought to harm them or who would try to prevent them from coming to Him.
Capital punishment is an act by which the governing authorities, who wield the power of the sword according to Romans 13, put to death a guilty criminal who has taken the life of another human being, thus forfeiting his own. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod states the position that “capital punishment is in accord with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.” This is based on Holy Scripture: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6). This is not to be an act of personal vengeance but an act of government which, in fulfilling its duty to punish the wicked and protect the innocent, may impose capital punishment. “For he [the government] is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4).
So, comparing capital punishment with abortion is, indeed, like comparing apples with oysters!
But what was truly offensive about the pope’s statement was that he said that those who are against abortion but in favor of the death penalty are not really prolife. In doing so, he is watering down the malevolent horror of abortion by equating it with other issues over which we have the freedom within the boundaries of God’s Word to debate. Shame on him.
Now as Lutherans, we adhere to the teaching of Scripture Alone. We do not recognize the authority of the pope. But here is why I am particularly incensed over what he said: He is burdening those who are members of the Roman Catholic Church by telling them that they are not truly pro-life IF they do not agree with him on capital punishment, despite what Scripture says to the contrary.
I have many dear Catholic friends who I know support the right to life and are actively fighting for the lives of our innocent unborn children—but now this throws an additional weight upon their shoulders, one that is NOT backed by Holy Scripture. They are being told that they must be against the death penalty or else they are hypocrites and not truly pro-life at all.
That is abominably wrong.
Now it is true that, though the Bible allows capital punishment, it does not mandate capital punishment. It leaves it up to the State, that is, the governing authorities. In our republic, represented by those whom we the people elect to office, we have the freedom to decide, through our legislative process, whether we wish to have capital punishment or not. Unlike with abortion, which is unquestionably the willful butchery of an innocent baby, we can debate the pros and cons of capital punishment. For example, if a state does have capital punishment, we would certainly want to ensure that it is applied justly, after a fair trial and conclusive evidence, so that an innocent person might not be mistakenly convicted and put to death.
The point is not that we MUST have capital punishment, it is that we CAN have capital punishment. But abortion IS and ALWAYS IS the deliberate killing of an unborn baby human being who has done no wrong and has no opportunity to speak in his or her own defense. So, yes, you can be against abortion but still support the death penalty and be prolife. Don’t compare apples with oysters.
What of the other part of the pope’s statement, when he said, “Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
THAT is most emphatically comparing apples with oysters.
Think about this: The intended result for every abortion is the death of a baby.
Even in a botched abortion where the baby is born alive, the radical abortion advocates demand that it be abandoned and left to die.
No one—at least no one I know—advocates hunting down illegal immigrants for the purpose of killing them. We may have differing views on how to best enforce immigration law, protect our border, and deport those who have broken the laws of our nation by coming illegally in the first place, but we can reasonably disagree on the details. But whichever position we take, the intended result is NOT to willfully and deliberately kill them, as it IS in an abortion. The intent is to enforce the laws, punish evildoers, and protect innocent citizens. That is what Romans 13 says that government is supposed to do. It may indeed happen that in the process of enforcing the laws of the land, people may be imprisoned or deported. The government is engaging in its God-given duty to pass and enforce laws and to punish those who break those laws.
Remember: The willful intent for every abortion is ALWAYS to produce a dead baby. The willful intent of enforcing immigration policy is NOT to produce a dead illegal immigrant but to dutifully protect the nation’s citizens.
This was a bit of a different topic this week for me to write about, but the statement of the Pope could not go unchallenged. As President of Lutherans For Life of Michigan, as a pastor who is tied squarely to God’s Word, as a prolife citizen, as an advocate for the unborn, I could not remain silent. The pope is wrong. You can be against abortion and support the death penalty and still be pro-life. You can be against abortion and yet back the closing of the border and the removal of those who have come into our country illegally—especially those who are gang members and violent offenders, rapists, child sex traffickers, and so forth. Supporting the enforcement of immigration policy does not disqualify you from being prolife.
The foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ. Our infallible source of truth and doctrine is the Holy Word of God—Sola Scriptura—Scripture Alone! It is not the fallible words of popes or the crooked and corrupt wisdom of fallen man.
Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word! Amen.