When weighing which way to cast your ballot, consider the consciences of individual candidates as well as the party manifestos, says Philip Booth

When Catholics decide how to vote in a general election, they often try to use Catholic Social Teaching to justify what are actually their pre-existing party loyalties. In the circumstances, this is hardly surprising. To begin with, Catholic Social Teaching allows people to make their own judgements on a whole range of political issues. This is especially so when it comes to determining how important objectives are achieved. 

Secondly, no political party allows Catholic – or indeed any type of Christian – Social Teaching to infuse its policy platform. 

What Catholics have to choose between is a selection of restaurants claiming to cater for vegetarians while providing only a choice of sausage, chips and beans or a ham omelette – those who are vegetarian can either pick out the ham or leave the sausages. The main political parties often use the vocabulary of Catholic Social Teaching - especially words such as “the common good” or “solidarity” – but they mean something entirely different.