The document, a vademecum of some 15 pages, was prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is expected to be published this month, ZENIT learned from Vatican sources.
The document focuses on questions such as whether it is morally permissible to vote for a law that accepts abortion, with restrictions, as an alternative to a more-permissive law in force or about to be voted on.
John Paul II’s encyclical «Evangelium Vitae» addressed this issue.
In section No. 73, it explained that if a legislator who opposes abortion cannot completely abrogate a gravely unjust law, but can abrogate it partially, he can and in general must do so, so long as it does not cause scandal, and he does not make himself responsible for unjust legislative dispositions remaining in force.
The new Vatican document will study further the indications already given by the Pope.
