FLORIDA (LifeSiteNews) — Florida Catholics, are we hearing our bishops and priests preaching that a vote for pro-abortion Amendment 4 is a grave sin that puts one’s immortal soul in peril?
Here in Florida, secular arguments are being promulgated to convince “pro-choice” voters to oppose Amendment 4. No limits. No doctors. No parental consent. “It’s too extreme,” they are told.
But Catholics are called to a much higher standard than to be less extreme when it comes to child killing, because according to Church teaching, voting for a child-killing amendment is formal cooperation in evil, a deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of his life, which, as Pope John Paul II taught in Evangelium Vitae, is “a grave act of disobedience to the moral law.”
The deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of his life is always morally evil and can never be licit either as an end in itself or as a means to a good end. It is in fact a grave act of disobedience to the moral law, and indeed to God himself, the author and guarantor of that law; it contradicts the fundamental virtues of justice and charity. – Pope St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae
Further on in this same encyclical, he adds:
In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to “take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law, or vote for it.”
Pope Benedict XVI further clarified the moral implications and underscored the severe gravity of such an action when he wrote:
A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. – Pope Benedict XVI, Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion: General Principles
Here, Pope Benedict specifically speaks of voting for a candidate, but a clear-cut vote for a child-killing ballot measure, as is a vote for Amendment 4, would certainly also make a Catholic guilty of formal cooperation in evil, make him unworthy for Holy Communion, and jeopardize his eternal salvation without sacramental Confession.
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Alarmingly, here in Florida, early polls indicate that as many as 53% of Florida Catholics are poised to support the child-killing amendment. Catholic laity, and especially our bishops and priests: Do not withhold these fundamental truths about formal cooperation in evil from these misguided Catholics. We will all be held to account for our own salvation, and, to a degree depending on our sphere of influence, the salvation of others. It is only just, charitable, and merciful to try to save them from this impending peril, even should we fear that such a message may not always be docilely received.
Our dear shepherds, we urge you not to let up in these last days before Election Day, but rather preach ever more boldly on the Church’s full teaching regarding voting for a child-killing measure. Defend God’s precious unborn children. Save eternal souls.