Cardinal Dolan welcomes papal statement on abortion and confession [CC]

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Cardinal Timothy Dolan has welcomed Pope Francis’s statement in the apostolic letter Misericordia et Misera that “I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion.”

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I thought that most US Bishops had already delegated this down to the priest level prior to this announcement anyway.
 
ARSpade said:
I thought that most US Bishops had already delegated this down to the priest level prior to this announcement anyway.
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I believe the Holy Father’s statement is directed to the Church in Europe,where absolution ,until now was required directly by the bishops.
 
Jeanne_S said:
I believe the Holy Father’s statement is directed to the Church in Europe,where absolution ,until now was required directly by the bishops.
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Well, not all Europe needs to be painted with the same brush. It’s made up of many nations and bishops/bishops conferences. But yes, there were dioceses in the world where absolution for abortion remained only in the Bishop’s authority. I believe because it incurs automatic canonical penalties and is not just a very grave sin.
 
Wesrock said:
Well, not all Europe needs to be painted with the same brush. It’s made up of many nations and bishops/bishops conferences. But yes, there were dioceses in the world where absolution for abortion remained only in the Bishop’s authority. I believe because it incurs automatic canonical penalties and is not just a very grave sin.
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Your distinction between sin and penalty is apt. Any priest who can hear confessions already had the ability to absolve this sin whenever it was confessed with contrition. Not all priests who could hear confessions had the ability to remit the penalty associated with abortion (which is not applicable to each and every case).

As of now, all priests who can hear confessions can also remit the penalty (if it exists).

Dan
 
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