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”.
Golly!
What has my 'knowledge' got to do with the missing 'evidence'?
Golly!
I'm capable, from my keyboard, to keep YOU from being civil??
Who knew!!
Ahh... you want me to mind read Paul.
I feel it; Brother!
"One indeed is the universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved, in which the priest himself is the sacrifice, Jesus Christ, whose body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the species of bread and wine; the bread (changed) into His body by the divine power of transubstantiation, and the wine into the blood, so that to accomplish the mystery of unity we ourselves receive from His (nature) what He Himself received from ours." — Pope Innocent III and Lateran Council IV (A.D. 1215)
Therefore, if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the lord himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole Church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema. — Vatican 1, Ses. 4, Cp. 1
No doubt!
She'll be flying First Class!
No doubt!
She'll be flying First Class!
But I highly doubt that she 'loves' me; as she is sleeping in her grave just like every other Dead in Christ person who awaits the trumpet.
Aye; Matey; but there a couple of Catholics in this thread that wish I wasn't in it!
Me!
Me!!
Me!!!
When I post stuff from Catholicism...
Do you REALLY want your great man to appear as a FLIPFLOPPER?
You'll need to dredge up some quotes from the OTHER guys; too.
Augustine is merely first; alphabetically.
I'm sure glad that NONE of your FR Catholic buds are ever disrespectful and try to detract from a civil conversation.
Need?
It's FUN!!!
Watching you guys cling to the curtains.
Everything I post I document....and in many cases it is pulled from catholic sources and uses recognized documentation formats unlike some users.
Again if catholics don't like the scrutiny.....hide behind the caucus protection.
But that is only possible with CONTRITION and acknowledgement you did wrong, RIGHT?
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To: Elsie; ealgeone
It would be nice to be able to have a civil discussion about an event without a bunch of assholes hijacking the thread with their attacks. 136 posted on 9/2/2015 10:36:58 AM by Jeff Chandler (http://www.freerepublic.com/~jeffchandler/)
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“Me; too!”
No. What you do is cherry pick quotes - even when those quotes do not say what you claim they do. Oden, on the other hand, looked at almost the sum total of Fathers’ works and wrote about what they said. There’s a difference. What Oden does is scholarship. What you do is bigotry.
If you don't want to (or can't) play the game; then just sit in the bleachers and watch the rest of us.
“What has my ‘knowledge’ got to do with the missing ‘evidence’?”
If you have never read the verse, say so. If you have read it, then you saw the evidence.
I admit defeat...
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