Trump rallies Catholic organization with message slamming Harris for persecuting parishioners

After former President Donald Trump railed against Vice President Kamala Harris’s treatment of religious conservatives, a Catholic organization threw its weight behind the GOP.

CatholicVote has launched a multimillion-dollar campaign against Harris in heavily Catholic swing states, according to a Fox News report. 

CatholicVote President Brian Burch said on Tuesday that “Kamala Harris represents the most vile anti-Catholic threat of any leading candidate for president in American history. She is a candidate of the hard Left. And her record and her words demonstrate a gross anti-Catholic bias and bigotry.”

The news comes after Trump repeatedly fired up his base with allegations that Harris is “anti-Catholic,” referring to the vice president’s concerns over Catholic judicial nominees several years ago.  

In 2018, Harris questioned Brian Buescher, Paul Matey, and Peter Phipps over their membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization that promotes biblical values.

Harris, then a Democratic California senator, expressed concern over the three nominees’ affiliation with a Catholic organization that holds a conservative stance on marriage and abortion. 

“Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed a woman’s right to choose when you joined the organization?” Harris pressed Buescher. “Did you agree with Mr. Carl Anderson that abortion is ‘the killing of the innocent on a massive scale’? Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when you joined the organization?”

As he rallied religious conservatives last weekend in Florida, Trump blasted Harris for “viciously” attacking “highly qualified” Knights of Columbus nominees and “suggesting that their Catholic faith disqualified them from serving on the federal bench.” 

After CatholicVote announced its swing state initiative against Harris, Trump praised the religious group’s move against “the most anti-Catholic person ever to run for high office.” In a post to Truth Social, the GOP leader said, “Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Wack Job, just ask the Knights of Columbus.” 

While the MAGA leader posted a follow-up post thanking the religious group for “doing GREAT work getting Voters to the Polls,” the Harris campaign is pushing back on claims it is “after Catholics.” 

In comments to the Washington Examiner, Harris campaign spokesman James Singer said, “Catholic voters are not defined by insults of Donald Trump.”

For the past four years, Harris has served alongside President Joe Biden, who is the second Catholic to occupy the Oval Office. Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), is also a practicing Catholic.

“Vice President Harris is proud to serve with the second Catholic president ever,” Singer said on Wednesday and noted the presumed Democratic presidential nominee would “fight every day to earn” the Catholic vote.