How bishops let pro-aborts off the hook

The following quote from the September 2004 San Francisco Faith (click on this post's titile) shows how then-Abp. William Levada came up with a broad rationale -- an absurdly narrow definition of "intent" -- to excuse Catholic pro-abortion politicians:

"But for Archbishop Levada, formal cooperation is a very narrow category, it seems. 'Can a politician be guilty of formal cooperation in evil?' Levada asked, to which he responded, yes, if he 'intends to promote the killing of innocent life.' [Emphasis in original.] Even a voter, Levada said, could be guilty of formal cooperation in evil if he has such an intention.

"Thus, it appears, for Levada, if a politician supports an abortion bill or a voter an abortion candidate for any reason except 'to promote the killing of innocent life,' he is not guilty of formal cooperation in evil. Hence the archbishop’s conclusion that such formal cooperation on the part of voters 'seems unlikely as a general rule;' and his answer, 'I hope not,' to the question, whether 'a Catholic politician who has voted for a law favoring abortion be judged to have this intention.'"

Ahem. If you vote for a law that PROMOTES aborting millions of babies, how can you or anyone else claim that you are NOT "intend[ing] to PROMOTE [emphasis added] the KILLING [emphasis added] of" those babies?

Tough luck, little preborn babies. You get DISMEMBERED -- and the politicians who vote for your dismemberment get rewarded with Holy Communion from Successors of the Apostles.