Endorsing versus Demanding

Endorsing a politician is just a bit more of an overreach than advocating certain legislation or government policies. Who said bishops were competent to do either? The jeopardy of non-profit status notwithstanding, why shouldn't a cleric, as a private individual or even as a member of a political community, have a voice as to whom he would choose in a political election, so long as he makes it clear that this is just his private opinion, it is not a binding teaching with canonical consequences if people don't follow it, etc.? Those in his church would have to make a judgment as to whether his opinion on such matters matter, even if they do not have the habit of doing so.

Well...Bishop Von Galen endorsed German voters in opposition to Hitler. Many clergy endorsed laws and leaders that ended slavery, and enshrined the Civil Rights Act in 1964, and your brother Jesuit Robert Drinan, SJ, was a Congressman who endorsed anti-GOP positions. Please. https://t.co/Ni9usg9WwC

— Patrick Coffin (@Patrick_Coffin) August 27, 2020