Peace Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Hmm. Maybe folks are just interpreting the rules different than Peters? At least the priest who did my class seemed to think that the excommunication is automatic for everybody (be they pregnant or non-pregnant). Or perhaps they do not forgive the sin in confession because they need to report it to the Bishop first so that a determination can be made as to whether the crime has been committed? Perhaps a priest would be reluctant to forgive it in confession unless he has been assured that the person has not been excommunicated, or that it has been lifted . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superblue Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Given that the Pope has dedicated the upcoming year to the mercy of the Lord in a special way, it does make sense to grant priests these faculties in order to encourage as many people as possible to receive the sacrament. God willing the confessionals will be overflowing. From what the Pope said, this is just for the Jubilee Year, not a permanent arrangement. ah not a permanent arrangement now that is interesting, so it is pretty much exercising what a Jubilee was back in the day, an over all forgiveness of debts etc from what i remember, which i mean could anyone imagine that happening now, telling the irs ,debt collectors, hey jubilee year, all is forgiven... it is indeed more of an encouragement to ease the tension of going to reconciliation .... but if it is just for this year, then what is going to happen after this time frame is over ? everything else being discussed seems to need be answered by a canon lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossCuT Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I dont understand why this is even a thing. Do priests usually just NOT absolve such a sin? In my limited Catholic knowledge, wouldnt a priest forgive such a sin anyway in confession? (Granted they had no reservations of the penitents intentions or contrition). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I dont understand why this is even a thing. Do priests usually just NOT absolve such a sin? In my limited Catholic knowledge, wouldnt a priest forgive such a sin anyway in confession? (Granted they had no reservations of the penitents intentions or contrition). As others have pointed out, it's a matter of the canonical sanctions. Anyone who procures an abortion is automatically excommunicated according to canon law (can. 1398). A person who is excommunicated is barred from the sacraments until their excommunication is lifted, and this is ordinarily the bishop's prerogative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I dont understand why this is even a thing. Do priests usually just NOT absolve such a sin? In my limited Catholic knowledge, wouldnt a priest forgive such a sin anyway in confession? (Granted they had no reservations of the penitents intentions or contrition). As others have pointed out, it's a matter of the canonical sanctions. Anyone who procures an abortion is automatically excommunicated according to canon law (can. 1398). A person who is excommunicated is barred from the sacraments until their excommunication is lifted, and this is ordinarily the bishop's prerogative. I could be wrong, but the penalty of excommunication must be lifted first before the confession can be heard. Because that's the point of excommunication - deprivation of the sacraments. At the same time, the threshold of who actually incurs the excommunication seems to a bit contested. According to at least one thing I've read, the excommunication could be lifted in the context of confession, provided the priest has the faculties to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice_nine Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 but most priests have already been given the authority to forgive abortion by their bishops right? Maybe some regions are different than others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisa Marie Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 but most priests have already been given the authority to forgive abortion by their bishops right? Maybe some regions are different than others. I have no idea how widespread it is. It's already been the case in my diocese (Seattle) for a while, and I imagine most bishops in the US already delegated the authority. You'd have to look up what each diocese's policy is. But regardless, now all priests can lift the excommunication for this sin during the year of mercy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puellapaschalis Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 but most priests have already been given the authority to forgive abortion by their bishops right? Maybe some regions are different than others. I hear from those on the ground that in the Netherlands the Pope's latest makes not a jot of difference as it is already the case there that priests are able to release penitents from sanctions for this particular crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossCuT Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I was unaware that certain sins needed special permission to be absolved. Sounds insane to me. No sin is too great for God to forgive and we are apparently confessing our sins to Jesus in the confessional, not the priest....least thats what I learned and Catholic school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seven77 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 nothing to see here… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 I was unaware that certain sins needed special permission to be absolved. Sounds insane to me. No sin is too great for God to forgive and we are apparently confessing our sins to Jesus in the confessional, not the priest....least thats what I learned and Catholic school. You are not really paying attention, are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisa Marie Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 I was unaware that certain sins needed special permission to be absolved. Sounds insane to me. No sin is too great for God to forgive and we are apparently confessing our sins to Jesus in the confessional, not the priest....least thats what I learned and Catholic school. As the article Nihil posted said, it's not the sin itself, it's the crime. You don't learn about this in normal Catholic children's educational programs because it's too complicated and confusing for kids who are trying to learn how sin and forgiveness work. Abortion isn't just a sin, it's on a short list of sins that are also "crimes" according to the canon law of our Church, and those crimes carry penalties, such as automatic excommunication (in contrast, something like striking the pope might not seem like a big sin if he's a massive jerkwad who could use a good punch to the face, but it's a crime in the Church). Excommunication means you can't receive the sacraments until you repent. When you decide to repent, the bishop is the one who removes the penalty. It's only THEN that you can receive the sacrament and absolution. Bishops have all the normal powers of holy orders, priests have some of them. The biggest reason why we have priests and not just bishops alone is because bishops can't minister to their whole area themselves. Really, your bishop is in charge of you, and your pastor is the one charged with helping your bishop take care of you. Sometimes the bishop will delegate some of his special powers to priests for practical reasons. This is why priests can confirm people at the Easter Vigil, for example. Many bishops have already decided to delegate their power to lift the automatic excommunication (which is different from a formal declared excommunication, which is like if you're an obstinate public heretic and the pope declares you excommunicated - there are different kinds of excommunication) to priests of their diocese, to make it way easier for the many people who are guilty of the crimes associated with procuring an abortion to seek the loving mercy of God and get back on track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglefire Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 All though abortion is a mortal sin and the woman who confrsses it at long last should not she be forgiven? It wad hard for het to confess it to a priest but planned parenthood should be shut down for their lies to these women. Think of how they feel they remembet and also regret what they did. The pressure was put on tjem. l forgive them bwcause they didn't realize the repercussions of their actions and now they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 All though abortion is a mortal sin and the woman who confrsses it at long last should not she be forgiven? It wad hard for het to confess it to a priest but planned parenthood should be shut down for their lies to these women. Think of how they feel they remembet and also regret what they did. The pressure was put on tjem. l forgive them bwcause they didn't realize the repercussions of their actions and now they do. In many cases the abortionists carry considerably more guilt than the individual women. I think that is self-evident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglefire Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 I pray for these babies souls. I desperately wanted babies. I have 3 daughters and 1 son who didn't make it at birth. But I forgive these women for reasons. Shame on the family incest and pressire becausenof age. But without knowkedge of our Lord they know nothing. I know that our teaching values all lives and I do but I am thinking that alot of women are women are waking up to this fact. Every soul is form on heaven and thought who are the parents to be but if we don't spread that word alot of women will mot b know this fact. Plannec parenthood needs to go away and be be shutdown I so agree qith you Nihil Obstat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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