Rome - Catholic women who “sin” by having an abortion and the medics who carry out the procedure will find forgiveness from the Church.
Credit: AP
Pope Francis said: 'I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to allow all priests for the jubilee year to absolve of the sin of abortion those who procure it and who also seek forgiveness.'But the special and spiritual absolution on offer is, however, for a limited period only - the 2016 jubilee year.
Pope Francis announced that from 8 December this year to 26 November 2016 - 12 months in which the Vatican will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the close of the reforming Second Vatican Council - all priests will be given the power to forgive women who have had a termination if they seek “absolution”.
Until now abortion has been seen as such a grave sin by Catholic authorities that those who procure or perform it incur an automatic excommunication. Only senior church figures, such as bishops or the chief confessor of a diocese, have formally been able to forgive those involved in an abortion.
Pope Francis said: “I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to allow all priests for the jubilee year to absolve of the sin of abortion those who procure it and who also seek forgiveness.”
He said he had “met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonising and painful decision”.
Seeking to underline how merciful the Pope was being, while simultaneously maintaining the Vatican's strict anti-abortion line, a Vatican spokesperson told reporters: “This is by no means an attempt to minimise the gravity of this sin but to widen the possibility of showing mercy.”
Another spokesperson added that “for now” the change would apply only during the jubilee year.
The Catholic Church has already been questioning the moral climate in Rome following a series of corruption and Mafia scandals. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Vicar General of Rome, said Rome had become “a spiritually anaemic city” and that this had led to problems with organised crime.
The Catholic Church was criticised when a Rome church participated in the extravagant funeral of mobster Vittorio Casamonic; his coffin arrived accompanied by a band playing the theme tune from The Godfather.
The Independent