The power of mercy
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 2:16 pm
A very moving account of how the Pope's proclamation of an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy has allowed this lapsed Catholic to return to the Church decades after having an abortion prevented her from seeking absolution through normal means. Her story is almost assuredly far from unique, and it will be interesting to see how many women feel they can return to the Church now that they can receive the Sacraments without needing to go through a tightly controlled process to lift the excommunication that Canon Law imposed on them. Hopefully the experience of the next year will persuade the Pope to make this change permanent, such that abortion is no longer classed among the remaining handful of sins (like murdering the Pope and desecrating the Blessed Sacrament) that incurs automatic excommunication and requires special dispensations to return into the life of the Church.