Pope allows priests to absolve abortion during Jubilee

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 1 - Pope Francis on Tuesday released a letter to Monsignor Rino Fisichella, the Vatican's director of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, in which he granted priests the ability to absolve the sin of abortion.
    Until now, only a diocese bishop was allowed to absolve the sin of abortion from those involved, including medical workers as well as parents of the unborn child.
    "One of the serious problems of our time is certainly the modified relationship with life, a widespread mentality that has caused a loss of personal and social sensitivity towards welcoming a new life," Pope Francis said.
    "God's forgiveness can't be denied to anyone who has repented," he said, calling on priests to "prepare themselves for this big task, knowing how to combine words of genuine welcoming with a reflection that helps one to understand the sin committed".
    The head of the Vatican press office, Father Federico Lombardi, stressed that the pope's move did not "attenuate the gravity of the sin" involved in aborting.
    Pope Francis also said that during the Jubilee Year, those who confess at churches officiated by members of the Society of St. Pius X - the group founded by the traditionalist Marcel Lefebvre, who was excommunicated 1988 for consecrating four bishops without a papal mandate - would also receive "valid and lawful absolution for their sins".
    "This Jubilee Year of Mercy doesn't exclude anyone," Pope Francis said.
    Francis called on the faithful to perform a "brief pilgrimage" towards a Holy Door - located at each of the four papal basilicas in Rome, every cathedral, and in churches designated by a diocese bishop - as a "sign of the deep desire of true conversion".
    The Holy Door is the northernmost entrance at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, only opened for Jubilee Years. Pope Francis also directed his attention towards the incarcerated, and said that they will be able to receive an indulgence in prison chapels.
    "Every time that (prisoners) pass the door of their cell, thinking of and praying to the Father, may this gesture signify for them walking through the Holy Door," Pope Francis said. http://popefrancisnewsapp.com/