Pope Francis today criticized both former US President Donald Trump for his plan to deport millions of immigrants and Vice President Kamala Harris for her support for abortion rights.

When asked about the US presidential election on the plane back from Singapore to Rome, the pope said not welcoming immigrants was a “grave” sin while likening abortion to “murder”.

The pontiff said U.S. Catholics should “choose the lesser evil” when they vote in November, without elaborating.

In Singapore, Pope Francis today concluded a grueling 12-day tour of four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest and most distant trip of his papacy, during which he reassured himself about the state of his health.

The 88-year-old Pontiff started his tour from Indonesia and visited Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.

A year on from major abdominal surgery, the ambitious 33,000km circumnavigation of two continents had raised doubts as to whether Jorge Bergoglio could pull off such an odyssey.

But neither the frenetic pace – 16 speeches in time zones eight hours apart – nor the tropical heat nor the multiple official meetings seemed to bother the Argentine pope.

Although he traveled with his personal doctor and two nurses – the usual protocol, no details were leaked about his health, as the Vatican maintains the utmost secrecy on the matter.

He laments the absence of “progress towards peace” in the Middle East

Pope Francis today lamented the lack of “progress towards peace” in the Middle East, nearly a year after the start of war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, a ravaged Palestinian territory.

“Forgive me for saying this, but I don’t think there is any progress towards (achieving) peace,” the Argentine Jesuit said during a press conference on the plane he was flying back from Singapore to Rome.

When asked about the 9/11 Israeli strike on a school converted into a shelter for displaced Palestinians, in which 18 people were killed, according to Gaza’s civil protection service, the pope replied: “I cannot say whether this act of war is too bloodthirsty or not”.

“But please, when we see the bodies of the killed children, when we see this, because they assumed there were some militants there, and we see the bombing of a school… It’s bad, it’s bad,” he complained.

“Sometimes, they say it’s a defensive war, but sometimes I think it’s a war of too much.”

The Holy See is “working” for a mediation, the pope assured, clarifying that he talks “daily” by phone with the Gaza parish.

“There are 600 people there, Christians and Muslims, but they live like brothers. They say bad things to me, difficult things.”

“At the end of the day, whoever wins the war will always suffer a defeat. War is always a defeat, always! Without any exception. We must not forget that,” the head of the Roman Catholic Church reiterated.