I kept hearing news items about the Catholic Church’s “new stance” on abortion, something the Pope said indicating a new direction. The problem is I always caught the tail end of the news reports, so I went and searched out exactly what he wrote and found it on the Vatican’s website. It took me a few times reading it through to grasp all of what was being said and meant, and I am sure I have a full grasp now on what His Holiness is saying here. Unfortunately, I think there is a problem.
First, let me say this is a (relatively) small shift in doctrine. What most non-Catholics, and even some Catholics, don’t realize is there is forgiveness of sin, regardless of the magnitude, though it does not absolve the sinner from the consequences of those actions. The fact that there is absolution or forgiveness for an act of abortion is not news. Also, that the person seeking forgiveness needs to be contrite and willing to change is also part of how the act of reconciliation works. One truly does need to be “sorry” to be forgiven.
The change many people have latched on to and are misinterpreting (I think) is the Pope has conceded “to all priests for the Jubilee Year the discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion” and this is where I find a problem with the Pope’s intent.
By allowing the priests to perform this, to represent God and absolve the sin, rather than forcing the woman to see the bishop, it is a big change. This makes the sacrament more accessible. Let’s face it, most Catholics are more comfortable going into a church for confession rather than going to the cathedral and seeing the bishop, not to mention the inconvenience, especially in less densely populated areas.
What I have a problem with is this “discretion to absolve” by the priest is apparently only for the coming liturgical year. Why? One day God moves through the priest to absolve a sin, then the next day that divine power is gone? This is a mistake. Instead of “for the Jubilee Year” the Pope should have said “in the spirit of the upcoming Jubilee Year.”
By giving an end date to parish-level absolution for a sin, any sin, makes God’s love and forgiveness have an expiration date and is arbitrary. This is completely counter to the message of love and mercy the Pope is trying to convey.
While we are on the topic, and I know this letter wasn’t necessarily the place for it, since His Holiness brought it up, he did not address any alternatives to abortion. “I am well aware of the pressure that has led them to this decision. I know that it is an existential and moral ordeal.” This is a small step in acceptance to those who have gone through the act, but at no point are there any alternatives proposed. Those pressures women feel, whatever they may be, need to be addressed. There is a real cost to going through with a pregnancy and giving birth that some simply can not bear. And that is but one example of a need that needs to be addressed. If we are going to talk about abortion in any context, there needs to be a whole discussion, not a selective one.
There are other items in the letter which I like, and the overall tone and spirit of it I think is fantastic. There has not been enough of a focus on forgiveness and mercy, so I look forward to the upcoming liturgical year, now more than ever.