As seen on AOL

[AlbertCat]

Pope to allow all priests to forgive abortion during Holy Year

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.

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.

But 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.

In the letter, 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".


http://www.aol.com/article/2015/09/01/pope-to-allow-all-priests-to-forgive-abortion-during-holy-year/21229956/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D-1074134527

**************

It's only for a short time! From Dec.8 to Nov. 26! So get your abortion NOW!

As usual, the Wonder-Pope has made some useless gesture of minuscule altruism and everyone goes all gooey.

Any institution with such (undeserved) clout should wholeheartedly be supporting all forms of safe birth control. Not to do so is massively irresponsible.

[PeaceNikki]

1. This pisses me off so much. As do many comments in GD about it.

The idea that women are in need absolution for reproductive choice is disgusting. What other medical decisions require "forgiveness" from the RCC?

Also note that is still at the discretion of the priest. I predict many will opt out.

And to borrow from another poster in GD: "he seems to be talking only about women who "bear a scar in their heart" over this decision. He is right that it is an existential and moral situation (not an "ordeal" for every woman). What about the women that do not bear a scar but find a sense of relief that the availability of safe, legal abortion gives them? Can only women who bear a scar in their heart be forgiven? "

Fuck you, Frank.

[hollysmom]

3. oh you have no idea why this is a step forward. When my mother had me,

70 years ago, she was told she could not leave the house until she went to the church and threw herself on the alter begging forgiveness for having sex. They knew she had sex because there was a baby. My father was not required to do anything. My mother changed churches instead.

I remember very clearly when I left the catholic church they were asking for volunteers to do a novena and I Wasn't feeling particularly religious so I thought maybe if I got more involved, so I Volunteered to pray during the novena. Well, the priest told me women were not pure enough to pray to Mary - a woman who had a child with other than her husband! I walked out and only attended for weddings and funerals and baptisms. Won't give them a dime. So this is a step, they are removing ex-communication and not tattoing a giant X ito the forehead of the woman.

[PeaceNikki]

5. It's 'forward' for those who are completely fucking backwards. It's FUCKED to a secular society and

for the general societal perception that women's medical decisions should be judged moral or immoral by anyone.

Fuck the RCC and fuck the pope.

[hollysmom]

6. women are screwed in almost every religion out there.

rules that only apply to them, punishments, etc. So many times there have been laypeople who got involved in their won warped interpretations In Ireland through the 1900's they would break woman's hips to deliver babies because vaginal birth was more normal than c section and if there was a difficult delivery, just break the woman's hips, they will heal, with pain, but heal. Local priests were involved in this, not the church per se, but what is done to women around the world is just plain sick. Maybe more people should forgive Sinead O'conner now that they know why she ripped up the pope's picture.

[Iggo]

2. Fuck your forgiveness, papa.

:middlefinger:

[beam me up scottie]

4. Fuck you pope.

We don't need your pity or forgiveness, we need bodily autonomy and for your lousy RCC to stop telling Catholic women that contraception is a sin.

Women are suffering and DYING because of it.

[deucemagnet]

7. So let me get this straight.

Please correct me if I'm wrong because I don't keep up with Catholic doctrine, but murder can be forgiven, right? Individuals who have killed, perhaps multiple times, and are convicted of murder, spending time in prison, can confess their sins, be forgiven, and be admitted into heaven, correct? However, women who have had abortions, who have done nothing illegal, cannot confess their "sins", cannot be admitted into heaven, and cannot be forgiven unless the pope grants a super-special 50-year jubilee exemption? Fuck. That.

[bvf]

8. A couple of posts here

omitted the word "fuck," which is OK by me (it's not for everyone--I respect that), but I really want to make up for the fact:

Fuck the pope.
Fuck the pope.
Fuck the pope.

Fuck the jamboree (or whatever the fuck it's called) too.

Seriously, this makes me sick.

[mr blur]

9. Yet there are still those on DU who look up to this bigoted fool.

Who regard him as some kind moral authority.

[AlbertCat]

10. The wisdom of the RCC....

..... is being touted in another group here ... the poster trusts the wisdom of "his church".

I dunno.

What wisdom? What wise thing has come out of the RCC...ever? I mean they did take 300 to apologize to Galileo. Was the Inquisition wise? The Crusades? How about their vague position during WWII? Wise?

I just don't know what wisdom, especially these days, can we expect from a bunch of men who chose to drop out of regular society... especially on women's issues.

[onager]

16. Their "vague" position during WII?

IMO, the Church's public position only became vague in 1945, for PR reasons. Though thanks to the Vatican "rat-lines," Nazi war criminals could still escape Europe after the war ended.

Speaking of PR, I'm laughing at the Pope's latest bit of stupidity. He's making these pronouncements like its 1955, not 2015. "Women have RIGHTS? WTF? When did that happen? The Vatican never approved such a thing..."

[PeaceNikki]

11. "I find secular government in the U.S.A. to be far more regressive and oppressive than the Church. "

Someone literally wrote those words today. On DU.

[RussBLib]

13. DU, and the Democratic Party, are big tents

we are all at different stages of enlightenment
but we are all on the same team
theoretically

[Warpy]

12. My friends who are practicing Catholics and who have had abortions

don't think of it as anything that requires forgiveness, the same way they regard using the pill to space out their children or prevent more when their families are complete. It's simply women's health care, none of the church's damned business.

Celibate old men have no business meddling in women's health care, in other words, so there is nothing there that requires any level of forgiveness on their part.

It doesn't occur to them to confess any of this stuff. None of it is sinful except to old men who are anatomically exempt from needing any of it. Let them confess their own abortions, if they ever have them.

[Act_of_Reparation]

14. In the spirit of giving, I shall reciprocate.

I hereby forgive anyone who tells these patronizing asshats to go fuck themselves.

[Lordquinton]

15. Maybe someday, a thousand years in the future

Some leader will offer forgiveness to the popes who have wronged the world, and perhaps Francis's name will be included.

[Arugula Latte]

17. Is this like "overdue library book amnesty"?

[mountain grammy]

18. Shouldn't all debts be forgiven during the holy year too?

come on, Frank, how about some debt forgiveness for those bearing the burdens of the world? The RCC can afford it.