Just saw a priest on Fox that said that priests don’t forgive sins, God does the actual forgiving and the priest is just an emissary/agent. He also said that Francis wasn’t condoning abortion as he considers it a serious sin but was saying that God is bigger than any of our sins if we go to Him. Makes sense to me.
If you were a Catholic, wasn't it explained to you that the priest, in administering the sacraments, acts in persona Christi capitis, "in the person of Christ the Head"? That's why he says "This is my body ... this is my blood" when confecting the Eucharist, and "I absolve you of your sins" in the confessional. He's an actor/agent/stand-in, not the source of anything.