{"id":22103,"date":"2015-09-02T06:05:59","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T10:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=22103"},"modified":"2015-09-01T21:10:25","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T01:10:25","slug":"pope-will-allow-priests-to-forgive-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/09\/pope-will-allow-priests-to-forgive-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope will allow priests to forgive abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Pope Francis will allow priests to forgive the sin of abortion during the upcoming Holy Year, from December 8 to November 26.\u00a0 Normally, abortion incurs automatic excommunication.\u00a0 Bishops must give special permission before a priest can absolve a penitents of that particular sin.<\/p>\n

That abortion cannot be forgiven, apart from an elaborate bureaucratic process, is another example of the Gospel-denying effects of the Roman Catholic penitential system.\u00a0 Christ died for all sins, including abortion, and He bore every woman\u2019s abortion in His body on the Cross.\u00a0 So every woman who has committed this sin can know that she has forgiveness in Him.\u00a0 Now for one year, such women can find forgiveness in the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

But this action by Pope Francis is being interpreted as another example of the pontiff\u2019s \u201ctolerance\u201d and will be taken as a weakening of the church\u2019s position on abortion.<\/p>\n

\n

From Pope to allow all priests to forgive abortion during Holy Year<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Pope Francis will give all priests discretion during the Roman Catholic Church\u2019s upcoming Holy Year to formally forgive women who have had abortions, in the Argentine pontiff\u2019s latest move towards a more open and inclusive church.<\/p>\n

In Church teaching, abortion is such a grave sin that those who procure or perform it incur an automatic excommunication. Usually only designated clergy and missionaries can formally forgive abortions.<\/p>\n

But from Dec.8 to Nov. 26, during an extraordinary Holy Year or \u201cJubilee\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Francis described the \u201cexistential and moral ordeal\u201d faced by women who have terminated pregnancies and said he had \u201cmet so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision\u201d.<\/p>\n

Francis is the first non-European pope in 1,300 years and has marked himself out for his tolerance regarding taboo topics. Although he has shown no intention of retracting the Church\u2019s opposition to abortion, he has alarmed conservatives by taking a less forceful tone than his predecessors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is by no means an attempt to minimize the gravity of this sin but to widen the possibility of showing mercy,\u201d Vatican chief spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis will allow priests to forgive the sin of abortion during the upcoming Holy Year, from December 8 to November 26.\u00a0 Normally, abortion incurs automatic excommunication.\u00a0 Bishops must give special permission before a priest can absolve a penitents of that particular sin. That abortion cannot be forgiven, apart from an elaborate bureaucratic process, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,27,47],"tags":[4017,4020,4019,940,4018,2481,1918],"class_list":["post-22103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-life-issues","category-theology","tag-absolution","tag-catholic-pentitential-system","tag-catholic-position-on-abortion","tag-gospel","tag-holy-year","tag-pope-francis","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"yoast_head":"\nPope will allow priests to forgive abortion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pope Francis will allow priests to forgive the sin of abortion during the upcoming Holy Year, from December 8 to November 26.\u00a0 Normally, abortion incurs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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