Catholics call for Trump to step down after lewd comments on women

Washington D.C., Oct 8, 2016 / 13:21 pm

The Catholic political advocacy group CatholicVote.org has joined calls for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to step down following his lewd comments about women in a leaked audio recording from 2005.

"Newly released comments by Donald Trump…are disgusting and simply indefensible," the organization wrote in an Oct. 8 statement. "Catholic voters rightly will be unnerved by these developments."

"In our own opinion the viability of Donald Trump's candidacy is now in question. Furthermore, the good many hoped to achieve, in spite of Trump's many well-known flaws, is also now in doubt. If Donald Trump is unwilling to step aside, the Republican National Committee must act soon out of basic decency and self-preservation."

CatholicVote.org isn't the only organization calling for Trump to step down from presidential race. Many leading Republicans have withdrawn their endorsements of Trump following the leak.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal Saturday that despite these calls to step down, there is "zero chance I'll quit."

In the leaked video, Trump uses graphic language in bragging to "Access Hollywood's" Billy Bush about kissing, groping and trying to seduce married women. Trump tells Bush "when you're a star, they let you do it."

CatholicVote.org has said Trump's comments in the recording are indefensible.

"Christians should not waste their breath defending them," the organization said. "The mere fact that this conversation is occurring in the context of a presidential campaign impoverishes us all."

Until now, Catholics have had mixed reactions to the GOP candidate. Pro-life advocates have questioned Trump's commitment to the pro-life cause, due to his strong pro-choice statements in 1999 and 2000. Trump has also described his sister Maryanne Trump Barry as an ideal Supreme Court nominee, despite her striking down New Jersey's ban on partial-birth abortions as a judge.

And while the GOP candidate says he opposes same-sex marriage, he has attracted criticism from defense-of-marriage groups who note that he has bragged in the past about having affairs with other married women. Additionally, Trump's casino was the first in Atlantic City to have an in-house strip club.