Machiavelli's Moral Theology: Probabilism and Proportionalism, Adultery and Abortion

Two things I read recently help explain each other: Fr. Servais Pinckaers’ wonderful book, Sources of Christian Ethics, and Machiavelli’s despicable play, Mandragola.

In Mandragola, the wicked Priest Father Timoteo is paid a bribe to persuade a woman to commit adultery. He tells her:

As to the conscience, you have to take this general principle: that whe…