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Pope Francis makes priests' ability to absolve abortion permanent Pope Francis gives priests' power to forgive abortion
(about 2 hours later)
Pope Francis is allowing all priests to absolve women of the “grave sin” of abortion, extending indefinitely special permission he has granted for the duration of the just-ended Holy Year of Mercy. Pope Francis has given all priests the power to forgive women who have had an abortion, saying the procedure was a “grave sin” but one that God’s mercy could wipe away for those with a repentant heart.
In an official document made public by the Vatican on Monday, Francis wrote: “There is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled” with God. The move, announced in a letter to markthe end of the Vatican’s holy year of mercy, was a powerful reminder of Francis’s desire to focus his papacy on forgiveness, even as he faces an unprecedented backlash from traditionalists within the church who believe the he has gone too far on sensitive issues such as divorce, and now abortion.
But he added: “I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life.” Francis first opened the door for women who have had an abortion to be absolved by priests last year, in what was supposed to be a temporary measure during the year of mercy.
Because the Roman Catholic church holds abortion to be such a serious sin, the Vatican had long put the matter of granting forgiveness in the hands of a bishop, who could either hear the woman’s confession himself or assign the undertaking to a priest who is expert in such situations. Traditionally, abortion was considered such a grave sin that only a bishop could absolve a repentant woman, or a priest given special permission by a bishop.
But in 2015, Francis said he would allow all priests to grant absolution for an abortion for the duration of the Holy Year, which began on 8 December last year and ended on Sunday. At the time, Francis defended his decision by focusing on the personal situations that force some women to get abortions, saying he was “well aware of the pressure that led them to this decision” and that it was an “existential and moral ordeal”.
By now letting all priests to continue to do so, the pope is further applying his vision of a merciful church to those women who, as he has written in the past, felt they had no choice but to make “this agonising and painful decision”. Now, Francis has extended priests’ right to grant forgiveness indefinitely.
In the official document, known as an apostolic letter, released on Monday, Francis explained the rationale behind his decision. In the apostolic letter released on Monday, he wrote: “I wish to remain as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life. In the same way, however, I can and must [state] that there is no sin that God’s mercy can not reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father.”
“Lest any obstacle arise between the request for reconciliation and God’s forgiveness, I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion,” he wrote. Jon O’Brien, the president of Catholics for Choice, based in Washington, praised the move, and said it showed that Francis understood the deep chasm that exists between ordinary Catholics – who turn to abortion and birth control with the same frequency as people of other faiths – and their clergy.
“The provision I had made in this regard, limited to the duration of the extraordinary Holy Year, is hereby extended, notwithstanding anything to the contrary.” While women have not been “queuing up around the corner of their church” over the last year in a desperate attempt to gain forgiveness, O’Brien said, Francis’s move was significant because it also appeared to represent an appeal to his fellow bishops and priests to look at the issue of abortion with less condemnation, and focus more on “reconciliation”.
How to form consciences on abortion figured in how US bishops in USadvised their flock during the country’s presidential election campaign. Francis’s announcement is likely to agitate the Argentinian pope’s toughest critics, a group of four hardline cardinals who are pressuring him over a papal document on the family called Amoris Laetitia that implicitly opened the door for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion, and called on priests to show “discernment” on the matter.
Some pastors urged their congregations to keep the “sacredness in life” in mind when deciding which candidate would get their vote. That phrase is widely seen as referring to abortion. The US president-elect, Donald Trump, voiced his opposition to abortion while campaigning, while his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, supported women’s right to have an abortion. The four cardinals, led by American Raymond Burke, who is based in Rome, wrote a letter to Francis in September demanding to know where Francis stood on the issue and then released the letter publicly last week when the pope declined to respond.
In an interview with the National Catholic Register, Burke said that, without further clarity, he was considering taking a “formal act of correction of a serious error”, which church experts said was akin to accusing the pope of heresy.
In a subsequent interview in Avvenire, Francis said of his detractors: “They are acting in bad faith to foment divisions” and that some people “misunderstand” his position.
“It’s either black or white [to them], even if in the flow of life you have to discern,” Francis said.
Austen Ivereigh, who has written a biography of the pope, said the issue would be unlikely to affect women in the US, Europe and the UK, where bishops have already largely been extended the rights to give women forgiveness. But it could resonate in Latin America, including in some countries where abortion is still illegal or severely restricted.
John Allen, a Vatican expert and editor of Crux, a Catholic publication, said in a column the decision was nevertheless seen as a “major gesture of outreach to women and others” who have been involved in what Francis called a “very grave sin”.