Pope Francis Sends Priests To Forgive The 'Sin' Of Abortion

[Shooby]

Pope Francis is reportedly planning to offer a special pardon of sins to women who have undergone abortions, along with the doctors and nurses who helped them with that choice.

As part of his upcoming Holy Year of Mercy, the pontiff plans to send specially trained priests as “missionaries of mercy” to Catholic parishes around the world. The army of priests will reportedly hear these women’s confessions and absolve them of the “sin of a procured abortion,” the Irish Times reports. The forgiveness can also be given to healthcare workers who perform abortions.

Official Catholic doctrine places abortion in a special class of sins that leads to excommunication, a banishment from the life of the church that is considered one of its most serious punishments. Usually, only bishops or the Pope can offer forgiveness for these types of sins.

Pope Francis’ stance on the legality of abortion is in line with that of his predecessors, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Saint John Paul II. During a Vatican meeting with doctors and ethicists last fall, Francis called abortion a “sin against God.”





www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/08/pope-francis-abortions_n_7244630.html

[NancysSummerSip]

The Pope is a cool and awesome guy and I would be willing to sit down and have at least one beer with him. And I think his decisions are all fantabulous, even though I am a liberal Jew who is leaning so far left than I tend to fall down a lot.

I had planned on meeting up with him during his visit to Philadelphia, had it not been for the fact that he is bringing about 2 million of his closest friends with him. So I changed my vacation itinerary.

[mroped]

Maybe he understands that women that choose/decide to have an abortion or pregnancy termination don't do that with a light heart. Maybe he understands that most use it as a last resort and not as a form of birth control.
Who knows? But he seems to be a cool, level headed fellow. 
I don't care much for priests/pastors but I like him. He lives the life that he preaches and that's rare!

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Pope Francis is a breath of fresh air for Vatican and Catholicism. He's a modern thinker open to many modern-day issues . Another example from the link:

But Francis has also placed a strong emphasis on mercy. In the past, he’s criticized church leaders for becoming “obsessed” with hot-button issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, instead of focusing on making sure the church is a “home for all.”

The OP started the thread, provided a link & then attached some of the text from the link without providing an opinion/comment of her own?

If she's Catholic, I'd be interested in her feedback on this.

If not, how does any decision the Pope makes regarding the Catholic church and its members affect her?

[NancysSummerSip]

If not, how does any decision the Pope makes regarding the Catholic church and its members affect her?

It doesn't. It's another one of those let's-throw-it-on-the-virtual-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks kind of posts.

[Green Eyed Lady]

One may not be actually affected by the Pope's decisions but that doesn't mean one can't be interested.  I, for one, think it's interesting to hear what people of other faiths have to say on the issue (such as how Nancy weighed in).  The thread isn't about Shooby. It's about the Pope. 

[billisonboard]

... specially trained priests as “missionaries of mercy” to Catholic parishes around the world. The army of priests will reportedly hear these women’s confessions and absolve them of the “sin of a procured abortion,” ...

"Did hear that Mary went to see the 'abortion' priest?" 

[Opti]

It sounds like a PR move to me. Its a way to say I understand about the hard choice of abortion without changing his official stance.

He could just absolve every woman living right now of the sin of abortion including health workers by simply saying it is so, but instead church money will be spent on priests to forgive women and health workers just this once as part of his self declared Year on Mercy. Or he may feel that even as Pope there are things  he dare not do and instead of making abortion a regular sin he's decided on the one shot special priest exemption. It could be in line with his you don't have to breed like rabbits comment.

[Tennesseer]

While the priests are hearing the confessions of Catholic women who had abortions, they might want to also hear the confessions of women who took birth control medications.  I imagine though the time it would take to hear all the birth control confessions will exceed the time set aside for the Holy Year of Mercy.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

May 9, 2015 19:39:01 GMT -5 Green Eyed Lady said:

One may not be actually affected by the Pope's decisions but that doesn't mean one can't be interested.  I, for one, think it's interesting to hear what people of other faiths have to say on the issue (such as how Nancy weighed in).  The thread isn't about Shooby. It's about the Pope. 

I weighed-in as well.

The reason I asked, is because shooby started the thread, posted the link & a partial portion of the link's text, then left without comment/opinion of her own.

The OP hasn't contributed anything further to the topic - like her own feelings of the Pope's decision - if she has any.

Was their a purpose for starting it if she's not going to provide her own feedback?

If she doesn't have an opinion one way or the other, why bother?

[Green Eyed Lady]

Why are you so friggin worried about what Shooby has to say and what she doesn't?   I don't know about anyone else, but your obsession seems a bit creepy to me.  Comment on the dang thread or don't, for Heaven's sake.  You haven't contributed anything to this thread either other than another stalking episode and another attempt at ruining yet another thread with it.

Opti?  I know nothing about the Catholic faith, but I don't think a blanket absolution would work unless you heard from those you were absolving that they  were sorry for the sin committed.  I'm just very pleased that he's providing a path back to the church for those who have been excommunicated.  He sounds like a good guy to me.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Obsessed?? No - I was curious on her feedback since it apparently must matter enough for a thread to be started.

Is she against the Pope's decision? She left out an important part of her link (which I added to my Reply #3) - he also weighed-in on same-sex marriages, saying it's the leaders of the church who should be focusing on making sure the church a "home for all".

[Tennesseer]

I forgot-the priests should also be hearing the confessions of Catholic men around the world for wearing condoms while having sex.  

The Holy Year of Mercy should be retitle the Holy Decade of Mercy.

[Miss Tequila]

I have no skin in the game since im not catholic and obviously never had an abortion (given my staunch pro-life stance that would make me one huge hypocrit!)

I think this is a tough spot to be in. I'm not religious but view abortion murder. Yeti have several friends that have told me about their abortions. I am not vocal in real life about how staunch pro-life I am so they don't realize who they are telling!l they are still my friends and I love them, but I still think what they did was so very wrong.

[Shooby]

Sorry SL, I didn't realize that my opinion on abortion was unknown to you.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

The Pope isn't condoning abortion - far from it.

He's opening the door of the church to grant absolution/mercy on those who have had one and also the Medical staff who performed them.

[billisonboard]

May 9, 2015 19:39:01 GMT -5 Green Eyed Lady said:

... The thread isn't about Shooby. It's about the Pope.

May 9, 2015 21:45:35 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Sorry SL, I didn't realize that my opinion on abortion was unknown to you.

Seems the thread is about abortion according to she who started it.

[Shooby]

I agree with the Pope. God can forgive abortion. And, I agree with the Pope that it is wrong and a sin.

[billisonboard]

May 9, 2015 21:54:54 GMT -5 Shooby said:

I agree with the Pope. God can forgive abortion. And, I agree with the Pope that it is wrong and a sin.

I think it is a choice and I could give a shit what some old dude in Rome thinks.

[Shooby]

But, here you are reading the thread! LOL!

[mroped]

Not versed on the issue of "sin forgiving" and the take of the catholic church on it but from what I understand from my reading of the Bible is that the Church can take your confession and ofer absolution but only God forgives. Am I missing something?

[billisonboard]

May 9, 2015 22:05:21 GMT -5 Shooby said:

But, here you are reading the thread! LOL!

Boredom.

[Shooby]

Ok.

[Opti]

It appears forgiving the sin of abortion happened recently on a smaller scale in 2011.

The Vatican has granted priests the right to forgive the sin of abortion when hearing the confessions of hundreds of thousands of young people attending a Roman Catholic youth festival in Spain this week.

"This (concession) is to make it easier for the faithful who attend the World Youth Day celebrations to obtain the fruits of divine grace," the Madrid archdiocese said in a statement on its website.

The Vatican already announced on August 11 that it had authorized a plenary, or full indulgence, to all the young people attending the celebrations.

An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven and is traditionally granted to WYD pilgrims.
www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/17/priests-to-forgive-aborti_n_929742.html

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Abortion is "sin" in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

It may also be considered sin or wrong in the eyes of pro-lifers, or those who are against it on moral grounds.

What about those who don't follow a religion? Does that make them murderers or sinners if they don't believe in any religious faith?

I don't think it's up to any church or protester to decide what someone else does with their bodies.

Do you expect a woman who may die if she continues with a pregnancy to bite the bullet and hope for the best outcome - where either she or the baby - or both may perish?

I think it's too much of a personal decision that one needs to make for themselves - without protest, interference or judgment by anyone else.

[resolution]

I wonder if this is coming from that survey on the family that he asked all Catholics to take last year. Most of the questions focused on divorced people and how well they fit into the church after the divorce, but some of it addressed other issues like birth control and same sex marriage.

I would love to see him do something like this for divorced people. I have some aunts that never remarried after their husbands left them due to their religious beliefs against remarriage.

[Robert not Bobby]

Look,

I come from an Irish/Italian background, so that makes me 110% Catholic, but truth be told, I'm agnostic on my way to being a complete non-believer...still, I like this guy. For a Pope, he seems grounded, genuine and humbles himself..."the peoples pope".

I don't know if forgiveness is the right way to go on this. The Church should be encouraging contraception...don't let it happen in the first place if that is not what you intended.

Yes, life is precious...but when does it really begin, and what about the woman and her life and body.

These are difficult and emotionally charged questions.

[weltschmerz]

I wonder if the pope will offer special pardons to men who masturbate. He's going to need a whole lot more than an "army of specially-trained priests."

[Green Eyed Lady]

Do masturbation and birth control belong to the special class of sins that lead to excommunication?  It appears the pope is hoping to bring those previously excommunicated back to the church.  So...if masturbation and birth control don't belong in that special class of sins that lead to excommunication, it would appear masturbation and birth control have no place in this discussion. 

[EVT1]

May 10, 2015 1:06:28 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

I wonder if the pope will offer special pardons to men who masturbate. He's going to need a whole lot more than an "army of specially-trained priests."