Posted on 09/01/2015 3:53:50 AM PDT by NYer
Huge news. This was under embargo till noon, Rome time, which must be honored. [UPDATE: The Bollettino is now available HERE]
The Year of Mercy begins 8 December 2015 until 20 November 2016.
It is about to be announced that the Holy Father has sent a letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization about the upcoming Extraordinary Year of Mercy.
In this letter the Pope says that he is granting to all priests the faculty to absolve from the sin of abortion. He writes: “I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee Year the discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it.” Interesting way to word it.
He also says that the faithful may go to … well… read it yourself. Here is a screenshot from the doc:
This is HUGE news.
Let’s examine this.
First, note the language. This letter says that he hopes that the SSPX will be reconciled. He says that he hears good things about the priests of the SSPX. But he says that the faithful may approach the priests of the SSPX for the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance) and that they shall validly and licitly receive absolution. He doesn’t say that he is granting the priests the faculty to receive sacramental confessions. He places the emphasis on the faithful. In effect, the priests are being given the faculty to hear confessions, but there is a different emphasis. I have the sense that it is the need of the faithful who otherwise might not go to a non-SSPX priest that the Holy Father is stressing. Think about the case of a person who is dying and there is, say, an ex-priest -a guy who was “laicized” because he committed certain crimes, present, the Church’s laws says that in the circumstances of the person’s danger of death any validly ordained priest automatically has the faculty validly to absolve. The need of the dying person is of such overwhelming importance that the law itself grants the ex-priest (or suspended priest, etc.) the faculty. The stress is on the need of the dying person, not on the priest. I think this is an analogous situation.
Along with this, the fact of Pope Francis’ move, together with the wording, confirms what I have been saying all along about the priests of the SSPX: they do not and have not had the faculty validly to absolve sins! The fact that this is being granted for the Year of Mercy bears out what I have been saying.
That said, if the Holy Father is willing to go this far with the priests of the SSPX, is it hard to imagine that this merciful concession might not be extended beyond the Year of Mercy? I would like to think so!
Next, this concession also underscores a point I have been making all along. If only Nixon could go to China, perhaps Pope Francis is the Pope who will reconcile the SSPX!
Additionally, this could irritate some bishops in, say, France… Germany…. And even though this may not be well received in certain circles, the Pope is doing it anyway.
Moreover, earlier in his pontificate, this Pope was pretty hard on priests. He seemed to be bashing them on a daily basis. This move to grant all priests in the world the faculty to lift the censure which results from procuring an abortion is a sign of his confidence in priests… for a change.
I take heart from this bold move – which makes so much sense (to me at least) – in favor of the access the faithful will have to sacrament of penance. I hope that it will also spark a wider discussion on the positive things that will come from the reconciliation of the SSPX. I hope that discussion takes place even among the SSPXers themselves.
May all the followers of the SSPX , please God, look at this move with joy and with gratitude for the concern the Pope is showing to them.
And… to everyone… GO TO CONFESSION!
But… remember, the Year of Mercy hasn’t started yet and the SSPX does not yet have their faculty. GO TO CONFESSION with priest with faculties!
UPDATE 1020 UTC:
The Fishwrap has posted on this now. They get it wrong, of course. They openly call the SSPXers “schismatic”.
“I would hope not; I’m not a homo.”
So Pope Francis only knows “homos”? Wow, you really seem desperate.
...and many RCs apply to all who are contrary to their interpretation of church teaching, even if from V2.
A question for the non-catholic. How does your church deal with abortion by its members?
Better than modern Rome I hope. We do not first torture them of suspected witnesses to see if this is true, even if he simply believes something is not a mortal sin. If found guilty, then we do not require the ruler of the country, if he is one of ours, to exterminate them and appropriate his property.
Wrong century? We do not invent a separate uniquely sacerdotal class of believers distinctively named "priests," or invent confession of mortal sins to them privately in order to obtain forgiveness, even if they forgot to mention them.
And we do not invoke James 5:14-16 in support of it, for it refers to presbuteros/episkopos, not hiereus, and is a special case requiring the ritual intercession of them for deliverance, even if due to chastisement for sin. And for which healing is promised via the prayer of faith, versus it normatively being a precursor of death, as in Cath last rites."
Meanwhile the only confession that is mentioned is to each other as believers in general. For the spiritual (if not judicial without leaders) power of binding and loosing is provided for all, such as be like Elijah, who bound and loosed the heavens.
As for abortion, like many other sins, if done by a believer it should be confessed to others in the body, which are to pray for healing of the harm resulting from such, and for what led to it, in which confession is therapeutic.
If such a harmful act against others was done by an presbyter then they are to be reproved before all, as being most accountable, that others may fear, but any accusation needs 2 or 3 eye witnesses. (1Tim. 5:19,20)
In the case of impenitent willful sinners, then we are to separate from such, with the only "coercive" means other than that being handing one over to the devil in order that such chastisement may work repentance, as per 1Cor. 5.
I got up this morning, eyes half- shut and went to my coffee container. There was none. Most of today, I couldn't tell you my middle name. Finally got the energy (desperation?) to run to the store- hair back, no makeup- just so I'd have coffee tomorrow morning! Could not take another day in the land of no caffeine. I'm sure we've all been there!
🙇...🙍...😔☕...👍😀
G-d ♡ bless you!
Grateful ✟ ✡
vladimir998:.45 caliber?
For the time being, there would be no use trying to use the one you keep shooting yourself in the foot there with, vladi, that one's empty. click
But I hear that a guy can buy a cure for that condition at places like Walmart, and CheaperThanDirt.
Then what does Vlad call them? Catholics? Like yourself and the Marx -Kasper couple?
For the fourth time, you don't know what you're talking about.
No problem.
Another idiotic statement. Every Catholic is always in a need to confess his sins.
Why do you ignore the qualifications of "physically or morally impossible"?
Under what absurd conditions do you think a Catholic cannot morally confess his sins to a Catholic priest, Sherlock? Could it be that his confessor is Marx or Kasper?
GOD's 'children' are a bit narrowly defined by Rome; so until IT changes it's ways; I doubt it.
Although Francis is sure trying; much to the displeasure of 'some' Catholics.
‘Interesting’ IS one way to put it!
(Ain’t a 45 a bit BIG to shoot a bat with?)
Others must think by NOT doing it; they are furthering the cause of the OTC.
Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who had his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed, tried, de-fingered, briefly reburied, and thrown in the Tiber.[1]
Pope John XII (955–964), who gave land to a mistress, murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife.
Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who "sold" the Papacy
Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who is lampooned in Dante's Divine Comedy
Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured.[2]
Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), a Borgia, who was guilty of nepotism and whose unattended corpse swelled until it could barely fit in a coffin.[3]
Pope Leo X (1513–1521), a spendthrift member of the Medici family who once spent 1/7 of his predecessors' reserves on a single ceremony[4]
Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), also a Medici, whose power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked.
According to the Bible's teaching, Mary is DEAD! She's not thinking (or doing) much of anything now.
Dang!
So THIS is where MormonISM get's it's Blood Atonement from!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_atonement
More bad than just plain, ol', ordinary, everyday MURDER?
It's sad that it takes an open thread for Catolics to be unable to justify their faith among the larger world and to actually be able to defend Rome's teachings against what the Bible plainly states.
Really?
No.
It means you Catholics want to come to ANY thread and try to overwhelm it with Rome's teachings; which has a LOT of non-biblical stuff contained therein.
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