Pope says priests can forgive abortion

[Impulse]

Article

What's the point? I thought priests could forgive anything via confession. Are there really limits to what priests can forgive? If so, how do priests know what they can forgive vs. not? Moreover, isn't it really gawd who forgives and priests are more like a medium channeling that forgiveness anyway? And certainly gawd can forgive anything. I can't believe I once bought into this crap. Francis is just towing the line trying not to lose parishioners by appearing to slacken the noose on abortion while doing nothing at all.

[Full Circle]

Beat me to it.

My ‘favorite’ part is this:

Because the Roman Catholic Church holds abortion to be such a serious sin, it was long a matter for a bishop who could either hear the woman’s confession himself or delegate that to a priest who was expert in such situations.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/11/....html?_r=0

In what fucked-up world is a priest an expert on abortion situations?

[Momsurroundedbyboys]

(21-11-2016 09:30 AM)Impulse Wrote:  Article

What's the point? I thought priests could forgive anything via confession. Are there really limits to what priests can forgive? If so, how do priests know what they can forgive vs. not? Moreover, isn't it really gawd who forgives and priests are more like a medium channeling that forgiveness anyway? And certainly gawd can forgive anything. I can't believe I once bought into this crap. Francis is just towing the line trying not to lose parishioners by appearing to slacken the noose on abortion while doing nothing at all.

Because women are being told they're not welcome in church because of that..then they leave the church. They don't want them to leave the church.

It's that simple.

[Bucky Ball]

Too bad these fools never even read their own catechism, (or took Moral Theology).
It's not even a mortal sin, UNLESS the three requirements are met.

1. Grave matter,
2. Full knowledge
3. Full/deliberate consent.

Their god is THE ONLY one that can judge #2 and #3.
Not a priest, not the Pope, not nobody. ONLY God.

[Dom]

The pope for vice president! We'll have a more secular government!

[Impulse]

This article goes back a year because this all started when Francis granted priests the ability to absolve abortion sin for the Year of Mercy. But it makes this even more stupid sounding.

Quote:The issue here is not the sin itself, but the excommunication, and who can lift it. In the Code of Canon Law that power is reserved to a bishop - unless, as in the United States, he has chosen to extend this authority to his priests.

In parts of the world where that power had not been granted, the priest would have forgiven the repentant sinner immediately and then have asked the penitent to return at a later time; during that interval the confessor would have secured his bishop’s permission to lift the canonical penalty. (Anonymity, of course, would have been honored, with the identity of the penitent never disclosed.)

So priests have always had the ability to grant absolution for abortion which means Francis' extension of that right today is meaningless. If the point is for women not to be excommunicated, he should be saying something about that.

Also, he is saying that the forgiveness extends to all people involved in the abortion process. Huh? Those people haven't gone to confession and aren't "truly sorry" for their "sin" as are supposed to be required. What utter nonsense from this "infallible" Pope.

[dancefortwo]

Isn't Christianity all about forgiving sinners if you "accept Jesus in your heart" and all that crap?

[ClydeLee]

(21-11-2016 10:41 AM)dancefortwo Wrote:  Isn't Christianity all about forgiving sinners if you "accept Jesus in your heart" and all that crap?

Protestants are all about that but them catholics need you to talk to a guy in a big hat for forgiveness.

This just means then can go to a lesser hat man for the task the bible says you can have a rabbi do for you anyway.

[Impulse]

Plus priests can refuse absolution if they believe you aren't sincerely sorry. For example, if you repeatedly confess at different times to the same sin and don't seem to be making an effort to stop the sin... even though priests aren't supposed to be able to tell who they are talking with in the confessional...

[ShadowProject]

Have they forgiven themselves yet for the rape (and subsequent coverup) of many, many underage children?