No matter how hard Democratic vice-presidential hopeful Tim Kaine tries to pass off his invented religion as “Catholic,” he will fail. That is because Kaine’s views are not actually Catholic or in any meaningful sense even Christian.

For 2,000 years, Christians have agreed on the sanctity of human life. Kaine’s own church teaches that abortion is always and everywhere a grave evil (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2270-2275). There is absolutely no wiggle room here. Yet Tim Kaine, who campaigns as a Catholic, supports legalized abortion and touts a 100 percent rating on Planned Parenthood’s scorecard, America’s number one baby killer. He is also endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice America for his 100 percent pro-abortion voting record.

The Bible is equally clear about homosexual acts, which the Catholic Church teaches are “intrinsically disordered,” “contrary to the natural law,” and “under no circumstances [to] be approved” (CCC 2357). In the same breath, the Church distinguishes between the homosexual acts and the persons with homosexual attraction. About the persons with homosexual attraction, the Church says, “They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” (CCC 2358).

Loving God and loving our neighbor is the Great Commandment upon which “all the law and the prophets” depend (Mt. 22:36-40). The church has always taught to love the person, but hate the sin. This commandment applies to each and every one of us and to all sins under the sun “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). While we are called to love our neighbor, encouraging our neighbor to commit grave sin is the most unloving thing we can do.

Like Jesus, we must show authentic and unconditional charity to the person who is in sin while rejecting the sinful actions that threaten his soul. We must do this humbly, knowing full-well that we are miserable fellow sinners, in desperate need of God’s saving grace. Charity and truth, both attributes of God himself, work together. They’re not in tension.

Distorting Truth for Political Gain

For political gain, Tim Kaine has distorted and defied Pope Francis’ words, the Church’s teaching, and Holy Scripture itself. Kaine spoke on Sept. 10 at the high-powered LGBT Human Rights Campaign dinner in Washington D.C. where he self-identified as a “devout Catholic.”

In the speech, he admitted that the Catholic Church is opposed to same-sex marriage. However, he held out to the audience the fantasy that the Church will change her 2,000-year teaching to fit the liberal zeitgeist. He then proceeded to distort Genesis 1 and Pope Francis’ comments to match his own ideology. He said that such change may occur “because my church also teaches me about a creator in the first chapter of Genesis, who surveys the entire world including mankind and [says], ‘It is very good,'” referencing Genesis 1:31. “Pope Francis famously said, ‘Who am I to judge?’ And to that I want to add: Who am I to challenge God for the beautiful diversity of the human family? I think we’re supposed to celebrate it, not challenge it.”

Kaine conveniently snipped off the Scripture passages that came before and after. In Genesis, God created them “male and female” (Gen. 1:27) and commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28) which is only possible within the sexual union of one man and one woman. Adam confirms that Eve is “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen 2:23-24).

The Bible is Clear — And Kaine is Wrong

Could it be any clearer that Holy Scripture affirms that sexual relations and marriage is between one man and one woman? To see the full picture, here are just some of the Holy Scripture passages that directly speak about the grave evil of homosexual acts:

• “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable” (Lev. 18:22).
• “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error” (Rom. 1:26-27).
• “But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband” (1 Cor. 7:2).
• “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10).

Nor can Kaine really hide behind Pope Francis’ words, which do not mean what the secular press pretends. As the pope explained his comment (“Who am I to judge?”):

If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person? … I was paraphrasing by heart the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it says that these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalized. … I prefer that homosexuals come to confession, that they stay close to the Lord, and that we pray all together. … You can advise them to pray, show goodwill, show them the way, and accompany them along it.

Confession — that is where Catholics go to repent their sins and gain the grace to avoid them in future. Does that sound like a papal stamp of approval? Pope Francis is calling on us to accompany them in kindness, charity, and truth — most importantly through our own example — yet not to become complicit by praising the sins that damage them.

Truth and Charity: Not Mutually Exclusive

Correcting Kaine’s misleading statements, his own bishop, Francis DiLorenzo of Richmond, responded that “the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year-old teaching to the truth about what constitutes marriage remains unchanged and resolute. As Catholics, we believe, all humans warrant dignity and deserve love and respect, and unjust discrimination is always wrong … Marriage is the only institution uniting one man and one woman with each other and with any child from their union. Redefining marriage furthers no one’s rights, least of all those of children, who should not purposely be deprived of the right to be nurtured and loved by a mother and a father.”

Tim Kaine has no right to treat Church teachings and the Bible like a buffet in a cafeteria, picking the teachings he finds convenient.

The call of the Christian in every generation is to communicate both truth and charity. Truth without charity is a “noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1), and charity without truth is plain sentimentality. May we all live out the call to continual personal conversion, as well as the call to charity in truth and truth in charity.

Arina O. Grossu, M.A. is the director for the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council Action, where she focuses on sanctity of human life issues, ranging from conception to natural death.