In spirit of Holy Year: Pope to allow pardons for women who had abortions
World
In spirit of Holy Year: Pope to allow pardons for women who had abortions
Pope Francis will give all priests discretion during the Roman Catholic Church’s upcoming Holy Year to formally forgive women who have had abortions, in the Argentine pontiff’s latest move towards a more open and inclusive church. From Dec. 8 to Nov. 26, during an extraordinary Holy Year or “Jubilee” on the theme of mercy announced by Pope Francis in March, all priests will be able to do so, he said in a letter published on Tuesday by the Vatican. Francis described the “existential and moral ordeal” faced by women who have terminated pregnancies and said he had “met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision”.
This is by no means an attempt to minimize the gravity of this sin but to widen the possibility of showing mercy.
Vatican chief spokesman Father Federico Lombardi
In Church teaching, abortion is such a grave sin that those who procure or perform it incur an automatic excommunication. Usually only a bishop, missionary or the chief confessor of a diocese, known by the Italian term “penitenziere,” can formally forgive an abortion. The pope’s letter did not mention people who perform abortions.
