Catholic Church believes that abortion is an atrocious act, a grave sin and they have certainly excommunicated many for commiting the act.
However, because it is a Holy Year, a year of Jubilee, the Pope wants to show mercy and allow all priests to forgive any woman with a repentant “contrite heart”.
Pope Francis said that women who have had abortions, “bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision” and thus mercy is to be shown during Dec. 8 to Nov. 26.
Read more on page 2.
I have but one judge…
Just as God empowered his priests to be instruments of forgiveness in the Old Testament, the God/man Jesus Christ delegated authority to his New Testament ministers to act as mediators of reconciliation as well. Jesus made this remarkably clear in John 20:21-23:
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Having been raised from the dead, our Lord was here commissioning his apostles to carry on with his work just before he was to ascend to heaven. “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” What did the Father send Jesus to do? All Christians agree he sent Christ to be the one true mediator between God and men. As such, Christ was to infallibly proclaim the Gospel (cf. Luke 4:16-21), reign supreme as King of kings and Lord of lords (cf. Rev. 19:16); and especially, he was to redeem the world through the forgiveness of sins (cf. I Peter 2:21-25, Mark 2:5-10).
The New Testament makes very clear that Christ sent the apostles and their successors to carry on this same mission. To proclaim the gospel with the authority of Christ (cf. Matthew 28:18-20), to govern the Church in His stead (cf. Luke 22:29-30), and to sanctify her through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist (cf. John 6:54, I Cor. 11:24-29) and for our purpose here, Confession.
John 20:22-23 is nothing more than Jesus emphasizing one essential aspect of the priestly ministry of the apostles: To Forgive men’s sins in the person of Christ— “Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, whose sins you retain are retained.” Moreover, auricular confession is strongly implied here. The only way the apostles could either forgive or retain sins is by first hearing those sins confessed, and then making a judgment whether or not the penitent should be absolved.
TO FORGIVE OR TO PROCLAIM?
Many Protestants and various quasi-Christian sects claim John 20:23 must be viewed as Christ simply repeating “the great commission” of Matthew 28:19 and Luke 24:47 using different words that mean the same thing:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
… and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations…
Commenting on John 20:23 in his book, Romanism—The Relentless Roman Catholic $#%&!@*ault on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! (White Horse Publications, Huntsville Alabama, 1995), p. 100, Protestant Apologist Robert Zins writes:
It is apparent that the commission to evangelize is tightly woven into the commission to proclaim forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus Christ.
Mr. Zin’s claim is that John 20:23 is not saying the apostles would forgive sins; rather, that they would merely proclaim the forgiveness of sins. The only problem with this theory is it runs head-on into the text of John 20. “If you forgive the sins of any… if you retain the sins of any.” The text cannot say it any clearer: this is more than a mere proclamation of the forgiveness of sins—this “commission” of the Lord communicates the power to actually forgive the sins themselves.
So let me get this straight, you can forgive sin when it is convenient to bend the rules to promote the vatican agenda?. PROUD TO HAVE CONVERTED TO THE LUTHERAN FAITH!.
He will have to answer to the Supreme judge for making that decision!!!
This guy is a fool, just as bad as our worst president of ALL TIMES!
He’s a socialist and human.
Who gave him permission to give anybody permission to murder anyone?
Permision from that fool pls
That’s a new one
I’m sorry clichés are really bad English but,
“The Pope, is a Dope!”