Pope Francis
Pope Francis said in a letter published by the Vatican on Tuesday that priests would now have the discretion to forgive women who’ve had abortions, at least during Holy Year.
The directive is a somewhat shocking church change that upends the previous practice of near-automatic excommunication for those who’ve undergone the procedure.
Reuters reported the pontiff said he’s “met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision,” and he’s been convinced of the suffering of their “existential and moral ordeal,” that he’s pressing forward the change.
Long-standing church practice is to regard abortion such a grave sin that those who perform it, or women who undergo the procedure, face near-automatic excommunication, Reuters said. Only those who receive forgiveness from a chief confessor of a diocese, the “penitenziere,” in Italian, or by a Christian missionary, could stay in the church, the news service reported, citing Vatican spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini.
But the pope’s lightening that load a bit.
He’s giving all priests the discretion to forgive women who’ve had abortions, and to direct them toward absolution, at least during the Roman Catholic Church’s looming Holy Year, Reuters said.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/pope-to-priests-forgive-women-whove-had-abortions/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/pope-to-priests-forgive-women-whove-had-abortions/
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