A San Diego Catholic church faces heavy criticism after it published pamphlets linking Hillary Clinton to Satan and called support for the Democratic Party a "mortal sin," The Washington Times reported.
"It is a mortal sin to vote Democrat . . . immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell," the flier from The Immaculate Conception Catholic Church said.
"The devil does this through the tactics outlined by [author] Saul Alinsky with the outcome as Hillary Clinton has stated, 'And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be change," to draw us away from God's teachings regarding the sanctity of life to those of the world and its prince," the handout said, according a local NBC-affiliate report.
The flier, which preached "how to vote like a Catholic," pointed that opting for abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research is proof that a Catholic is drifting away from his faith.
San Diego's Bishop Robert McElroy in a statement said the church did not endorse specific candidates.
"Let me stress again that while we have a moral role to play in explaining how Catholic teaching relates to certain public policy issues, we must not and will not endorse specific candidates, use parish media or bulletins to favor candidates or parties through veiled language about selectively chosen issues, or engage in partisan political activity of any kind," the bishop said.
Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, told The San Diego Union Tribune that the pastor had not approved of the messages in the flier and bulletin.
"It's not a mortal sin to vote for Democrats, number one. And number two, the church doesn't take positions on this, and we're not going to," Eckery said.
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