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POPE FRANCIS FOR YEAR OF MERCY GRANTS THAT SSPX PRIESTS CAN VALIDLY ABSOLVE!
WDTPRS ^ | September 1, 2015 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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:

15_09_01_Francis_SSPX

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”.


TOPICS: Catholic; Ministry/Outreach; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: catholic; francis; pope; popefrancis; sspx; vatican
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To: ebb tide

“I would hope not; I’m not a homo.”

So Pope Francis only knows “homos”? Wow, you really seem desperate.


241 posted on 09/02/2015 7:18:16 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: NYer; metmom; boatbums; presently no screen name; redleghunter; Springfield Reformer; ...
Excommunication is a word that is often bandied about by Catholics, non-Catholics, and the media. However, when properly understood within the context of canon law, it is a penalty that the Church only applies in the rarest of cases,

...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.

242 posted on 09/02/2015 7:27:02 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned and destitute sinner+ trust Him to save you, then follow Him!)
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To: Jeff Chandler
"It was early, I hadn’t had my coffee, and I wrote in haste."

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 ✟ ✡

243 posted on 09/02/2015 7:32:01 PM PDT by Grateful2God (Those who smile like nothing's wrong are fighting a battle you know nothing about. -Thomas More)
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To: vladimir998; Elsie
...speaking of bats (living 'rent free') in the belfry;

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.

244 posted on 09/02/2015 7:40:57 PM PDT by BlueDragon (We know all about the how, what we want to know is why, why now, Brown Cow?)
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To: vladimir998
Present day Anglicans are not called such.

Then what does Vlad call them? Catholics? Like yourself and the Marx -Kasper couple?

245 posted on 09/02/2015 7:46:28 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: vladimir998
So you are saying the Eastern Orthodox are not schismatic; but the SSPX “essentially” are?

For the fourth time, you don't know what you're talking about.

246 posted on 09/02/2015 7:50:59 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

No problem.


247 posted on 09/02/2015 7:53:35 PM PDT by annalex (fear them not)
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To: vladimir998
As I said, “time of need”.

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?

248 posted on 09/02/2015 8:01:55 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: NYer; daniel1212
A question for the non-catholic. How does your church deal with abortion by its members?

Protestants/Evangelicals, as far as I am aware, do not have a silent form of expulsion, such as your "self-excommuinication." I believe most of us would tend to regard such a thing as a sham. We do real expulsions.  I've seen it live and in person. It's almost always sexual sin. The unrepentant gossips seem to get a pass.

As for "self-excommunication," I look at that as comfort food for RCs.  I've mentioned this many times before, but I'll say it again here. I have RC relatives who deeply injured someone I love, pushed that person through an abortion, leaving permanent emotional scars on that person, not to mention the horror of the murder of the innocent child.  And they are still, to the best of my knowledge, happy members in good standing at their parish.

So y'all can talk all day long about a paper change based on canon law that no one knows about but God, and if it makes you feel better about your bad actors, then that's just wonderful for you.  But it leaves folks like me high and dry, especially when I've seen fellowships that take this command of Scripture seriously and literally.  It gets real results.  

Question for the Catholic:  If an unknown number of professed Catholics are actually excommunicated due to unconfessed "mortal" sin (hint: all sin is "mortal"), then how big is True Catholicism?  Does anybody know? Can anybody know? What if y'all here on FR are the only non-self-excommunicated Catholics left in the world?  After all, to commit murder, one only needs to have a moment of unjustified anger, according to the Sermon on the Mount.  How much unconfessed unjustified anger is out there causing auto-excommunications left and right??  Any takers?

Peace,

SR
249 posted on 09/02/2015 9:55:28 PM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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To: Biggirl
Could it be that God is calling His children to full unity because the days are getting darker?

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.

250 posted on 09/03/2015 1:53:13 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: ealgeone

‘Interesting’ IS one way to put it!

(Ain’t a 45 a bit BIG to shoot a bat with?)


251 posted on 09/03/2015 1:54:43 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: vladimir998
St. Paul would have shaken the dust from his sandals in regard to FR anti-Catholics a long time ago.

Others must think by NOT doing it; they are furthering the cause of the OTC.

252 posted on 09/03/2015 1:55:42 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: vladimir998
And as I said: Anti-Catholic.

100% CAtholic:


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.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_Popes

253 posted on 09/03/2015 1:56:44 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Grateful2God
According to the non Catholic view, HE'S DEAD! He's not thinking much of anything now.

According to the Bible's teaching, Mary is DEAD! She's not thinking (or doing) much of anything now.

254 posted on 09/03/2015 1:58:04 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Grateful2God; teppe; WilliamRobert; Normandy; StormPrepper
Abortion was considered a reserved sin: one so severe that the penitent needed, with the help of her confessor, to meet with the local bishop to decide upon the issue of absolution in each individual case.

Dang!

So THIS is where MormonISM get's it's Blood Atonement from!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_atonement

255 posted on 09/03/2015 2:00:32 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Grateful2God; teppe; WilliamRobert; Normandy; StormPrepper
Abortion was considered a reserved sin: one so severe ...


More bad than just plain, ol', ordinary, everyday MURDER?

256 posted on 09/03/2015 2:01:19 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Grateful2God
It's sad that it takes a caucus for us to be able to share our Faith among ourselves and (what a concept!) to actually be able to discuss the article posted.


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.

257 posted on 09/03/2015 2:04:03 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Grateful2God

258 posted on 09/03/2015 2:05:42 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: verga
...the term "help of her confessor" means that the confessor arranged the meeting and if needed helped to explain the situation to the Bishop.

Really?

259 posted on 09/03/2015 2:06:47 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: verga
Does this mean that issues can't bear up to Catholic scrutiny?

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.

260 posted on 09/03/2015 2:08:29 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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