Dear friend,
If a woman (or an accomplice) confesses an abortion, an ordinary priest is not allowed to grant absolution, but has to ask the local bishop for permission as a means of emphasizing the evil of such sins. Reserved sins carry automatic excommunication, which means that the person is banned from all Catholic sacraments, including the sacrament of penance (confession).
Church law says that when a woman has an abortion she and all those who aided her, including doctors, nurses and spouses, are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
However in some countries, including the United States and Great Britain, for quite some time now the bishops of these countries, because of the great number of abortions, have given all priests permission to lift the excommunication immediately. So what the Holy Father has done, is extend this to all priests around the world for the coming year which he has designated as a year of mercy.
In a world that has become rather numb to evil, the Church calls attention to the seriousness of certain extraordinary sins be reserving them for special attention.
Other reserved sins include attacking a priest or bishop, desecrating the Eucharist and
serial murder.
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
