Thanks for the cite. I could have looked it up. It is crystal clear to me; they can spin it any way they want.
Moral law should always and everywhere trump civil law. The only way through this would be sincere, public penance and permission of the Holy See. If the latter did happen to given, it is still a scandal to me at this juncture. It is worse than questionable annulments.
Any other denomination with the exception of perhaps the Orthodox, would have had someone willing to marry them, That a Catholic church publicly flouted canon law in such a high-profile, egregious manner is shocking. Just because it is not my diocese does not make any difference to me; it is scandalous nonetheless.
Unfortunately, I have done nothing to alert Rome to this, however I am pretty confident they already know. What's the point of having rules, if everyone gets to break them?