We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to participate in building the culture of life. . . . Every act of responsible citizenship is an exercise of significant individual power. We must exercise that power in ways that defend human life, especially those of God's children who are unborn, disabled or otherwise vulnerable. We get the public officials we deserve. Their virtue–or lack thereof–is a judgment not only on them, but on us. Because of this we urge our fellow citizens to see beyond party politics, to analyze campaign rhetoric critically and to choose their political leaders according to principle, not party affiliation or mere self-interest.

 -- Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics, 34,
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 1998

The following documents should help us, as Catholics, form our conscience according to Church teaching so that, exercising the virtue of prudence, we can best discern how to vote.

• Videos
  • VIDEO: Forming the Catholic Conscience in a World of Confusion, by Bishop Joseph Strickland
  • VIDEO: The Catholic View on Voting and Politics, by Ascension Presents
  • VIDEO: Staring into the Abyss, by Fr. Ed Meeks
  • VIDEO: Socialism Versus the Family, by Dr. Edward Feser
  • Principles and Foundation of the Lay Commitment to the Common Good, series by St. Patrick Catholic Church
    • #1: How Biblical Worldview Shapes Our Politics
    • #2: Affirming the Dignity of Human Life
    • #3: Defending the Family, the Basic Unity of Society
    • #4: Fighting for Religious Freedom
  • Preparing for the Election, series by Rich May
    • Formed Consciences for Formed Voting
    • The Socio-political Landscape, Part 1
    • The Socio-political landscape, Part 2
• Books
  • BOOK: Clear Conscience: A Catholic Guide to Voting, by Ascension Press
  • BOOK: Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life, by Archbishop Charles Chaput
• Websites
  • Are You Prepared to Vote . . . as a Catholic?, by EWTN
    • General Moral Principles
      • Conscience Formation
      • The Virtue of Prudence
      • Moral Cooperation in Evil
      • Principle of Double Effect
    • Specific Moral Issues in Voting
    • Non-negotiable Moral Issues
      • The Dignity of Human Life
      • The Dignity of Marriage and Family
      • Religious Freedom: the Basis of Freedom of Conscience
    • Negotiable Moral Issues
      • The Permanent Principles of Catholic Social Doctrine
      • War and Peace
      • Health Care
      • Economic Issues
      • Immigration and Migration
      • The Environment
      • Captial Punishment
    • Guide to Moral Duties Concerning Voting, by Colin B. Donovan, STL
    • 2020 Party Platforms in Comparison with Catholic Teaching, by EWTN
  • Understanding Legitimate and Illegitimate Cooperation With Evil, by EpicPew
  • What the popes have said about socialism and left-wing revolutionary movements, by Dr. Edward Feser
• Courses
  • COURSE: The Moral Life in Christ - Course 9 - Voting as a Catholic, by Deacon Frederick Bartels
  • COURSE: Render Unto God What is God's: American Catholics & Political Responsibility Today, by Dr. Steven Smith
• Church Documents
  • Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics, by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops
  • Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Members of the European People's Party on the Occasion of the Study Days on Europe, by Pope Benedict XVI
  • Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion — General Principles, by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
  • Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
  • Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
  • Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace

Cooperation with Evil in Voting

N.B. 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. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.  [emphasis added]

 -- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
Letter to Cardinal McCarrick, made public in July, 2004

Types of Cooperation with Evil

1. Formal Cooperation (CCC, 1868)

A.  by participating directly and voluntarily in [evil acts];
B.  by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
C.  by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
D.  by protecting evil-doers.

2. Material Cooperation

A.  Immediate: necessary to the sinful act
B.  Mediate: secondary to the sinful act

i. Proximate: closer to the evil act
ii. Remote: further away from the evil act

Remote mediate material cooperation is sinful, except under certain conditions:

(1) The act by which cooperation is rendered is not itself sinful; that is, it has two effects; the good one is chosen, the bad one is merely tolerated.
(2) There is a proportionately serious reason to justify tolerating the evil of another.
(3) The danger of scandal is avoided, by protest, explanation, or some other means.

Since voting for a politician that supports abortion (especially one who has promised to expand abortion and even codify it in federal law)--or who supports any intrinsic evil, also called the non-negotiables--is considered remote material cooperation, to vote in this way is sinful unless the above conditions are met.  We should therefore ask ourselves:  What proportionate reason do we think can justify the intrinsic evils promoted by the politician?  If there is not a proportionate reason, then to vote for that politician would be a sin.

There are other issues that are intrinsic evils. An intrinsic evil is an act that may never be chosen, regardless of one's intentions or the circumstances.  Why?  Because a good end cannot justify a bad means.  These intrinsic evils are also called the "non-negotiable issues".

Church Teaching on Non-Negotiable Issues

Issues involving essential goods, or common goods, which are the duty of government to insure are available to all of its citizens, are not negotiable. In other words, there is no policy of accommodation that would allow life to some and deny life to others, that would recognize the human dignity of some, and hold others not to have it. These essential goods are:

(a) The dignity of human life from conception to natural death.

(b) The dignity of marriage and family, upon which the good of every society and the human race itself depends.

(c) The protection of the right of parents to educate their children.

Here it is important to consider what the Synod Fathers described as eucharistic consistency, a quality which our lives are objectively called to embody. Worship pleasing to God can never be a purely private matter, without consequences for our relationships with others: it demands a public witness to our faith. Evidently, this is true for all the baptized, yet it is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their social or political position, must make decisions regarding fundamental values, such as

respect for human life,
its defence from conception to natural death,
the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman,
the freedom to educate one's children,
and the promotion of the common good in all its forms (230).

These values are not negotiable.

Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature (231). There is an objective connection here with the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29). Bishops are bound to reaffirm constantly these values as part of their responsibility to the flock entrusted to them (232).

Pope Benedict XVI,
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, #83, Feb. 22, 2007

References:
(230) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae (25 March 1995): AAS 87 (1995), 401-522; Benedict XVI, Address to the Pontifical Academy for Life (27 February 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 264-265.

(231) Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life (24 November 2002): AAS 96 (2004), 359-370.

(232) Cf. Propositio 46.

As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable. Among these the following emerge clearly today:

- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;

- recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defence from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;

- the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.

These principles are not truths of faith, even though they receive further light and confirmation from faith; they are inscribed in human nature itself and therefore they are common to all humanity. The Church’s action in promoting them is therefore not confessional in character, but is addressed to all people, prescinding from any religious affiliation they may have.  On the contrary, such action is all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, because this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, a grave wound inflicted onto justice itself.
 

Pope Benedict XVI,
Address to the Members of the European People's Party on the Occasion of the Study Days on Europe, March 30, 2006