Pope extends special rule on abortion

Pope Francis closes the Holy Door to mark the closing of the Catholic Jubilee year of mercy in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Picture: Tiziana Fabi/Pool

Pope Francis closes the Holy Door to mark the closing of the Catholic Jubilee year of mercy in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Picture: Tiziana Fabi/Pool

Published Nov 21, 2016

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Vatican City - Pope Francis on Monday indefinitely extended a provision that makes it easier for Catholics to seek a pardon for the "grave sin" of abortion.

The special provision was originally meant to last only throughout the Jubilee of Mercy, a Catholic festival that started on November 8, 2015, and ended on Sunday.

During the jubilee - also known as a holy year - women who resorted to abortion could seek absolution from any Catholic priest. Usually, only bishops or selected prelates could deal with such cases.

"I henceforth grant to all priests [...] the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion. The provision I had made in this regard, limited to the duration of the Extraordinary Holy Year, is hereby extended," Francis said in a Monday letter.

"I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life. In the same way, however, I can and must state that there is no sin that God's mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart," Francis added.

The decision is another example of Francis' readiness to apply flexibility when it comes to rules. He has often said that he prefers mercy to doctrinarian rigidity, a stance that has put him at loggerheads with conservatives.

The Catholic Church has condemned abortion as a "moral evil" since the 1st century. In Canon Law, it is deemed worthy of automatic excommunication, applicable also to partners who support abortion decisions and medical staff involved in the procedure.

In his Apostolic Letter, Francis also prolonged an outreach gesture to the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a controversial renegade group, that was also meant to last only for the duration of the Jubilee of Mercy.

The SSPX is an ultra-traditionalist community that was expelled from the Catholic Church after failing to recognise 1960s church reforms such as the abolition of Latin mass and steps to improve Catholic-Jewish relations. It is often accused of anti-Semitism.

Saying he confided "in the good will" of SSPX priests to return to the fold, the pope said they would continue to be entitled to hand out absolutions, just like ordinary Catholic prelates, even after the jubilee's end.

Separately, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, a top Vatican official who organised the jubilee, said the event drew almost 21.3 million pilgrims to Rome.

The top five countries of origin for pilgrims were Italy, Germany, the United States, Poland and Spain, he added.

Jubilees offer the faithful a chance to seek a general pardon for their sins as they walk through symbolic holy doors. The main one is in St Peter's Basilica, but Francis decided to place them across the globe, so that pilgrims would not necessarily have to travel to Rome.

Factoring in this innovation, "more than 900-950 million faithful around the world" have taken part in the festival, Fisichella said at a press conference, implying a participation rate of more than 70 per cent among the global Catholic population of 1.27 billion.

dpa

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