RI Bishop: Vote Mother Teresa for Governor

As a deceased Albanian citizen who was never a regular resident of Rhode Island, Mother Teresa may not be the most obvious candidate for governor—but the state's top Catholic says she's a better choice than anybody on the ballot. Democratic nominee Gina Raimondo and Republican challenger Allan Fung both support abortion rights, and Bishop Thomas Tobin has encouraged Catholic voters to consider either skipping the election or writing in Mother Teresa's name, the AP reports.

In an opinion piece for the Rhode Island Catholic, the bishop calls it a "pathetic spectacle" when Catholic candidates like Raimondo embrace the "evil agenda" of Planned Parenthood. Instead of choosing the "lesser of two evils," he writes, anti-abortion voters should also consider writing in Mother Teresa—or Pope John Paul II, or Pope Francis—because "a vote in that direction would send a clear signal that at least some voters won't settle for anything less than a pro-life candidate." Such a vote is "not a wasted vote; it's a sincere expression of conscience that upholds moral truth," he writes. In 2011, Tobin barred then-Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Holy Communion because of his stance on abortion rights. (More Bishop Thomas Tobin stories.)