In my opinion there is no way that attendance would not be a sign of at least a possible approval of the gravely sinful action by the parent.
If the parent attends, the son or daughter involved in this mockery of marriage would inevitably think something like: “Well, dad and/or mom *say *they don’t approve and that my actions are gravely sinful, but since they
are here they can’t think it’s that bad after all…”
IMO if I were a parent, I would not want my child to have the slightest doubt concerning my absolute disapproval of his or her choice to take one of the most direct paths to Hell.
However I am not a parent so I am not going to say that I know I am right. This is just my take on this issue. At any rate, it is clearly the obligation of the parent to make send a clear message to the child that his or her actions are very, very wrong and completely opposed to God’s plan.
That’s… pretty horrifying. Wasn’t he there to absolve her of her sins?
One of the requirements for a valid absolution is that the penitent be contrite (at least imperfectly) for his or her sins. Nobody who goes to confession has a right to absolution, it is purely a gift of God, and the Lord has entrusted the responsibility to either grant OR deny the absolution to His priests. Priests have to take this very seriously.
St. Padre Pio had the gift of reading people’s souls. If this situation really did happen and If he knew that the woman was not contrite for her sins, then he could not give her absolution because it would be invalid and would be an abuse on his part. Toleration of gravely immoral behavior is itself gravely sinful.
Having some knowledge of St. Pio myself, I cannot honestly believe that he would even think of denying a contrite sinner absolution, no matter how grave the sinner’s sins were.