Pope Francis: Abortion No Big Deal

by JASmius



This is, I think, more a matter of the non-Biblical aspects of Catholicism than it is necessarily with Francis's leftism.  The error is in confusing the Catholic Church with Christianity itself:

Pope Francis will give all priests discretion to formally forgive women who have had abortions and seek absolution during the Roman Catholic Church's upcoming Holy Year, in the Argentine pontiff's latest move towards a more open and inclusive church.

There's problem number one.  It is God The Father Who forgives through the intercession of God The Son and His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.  We are certainly to forgive each other, but that is only for wrongs done specifically to each of us, and out of a recognition that the next time it may be your or my turn to seek forgiveness for transgressions we have committed.  The purpose in such "horizontal" confession and forgiveness is reconciliation, to restore and maintain relationships, not having to deal with what might be called "judicial" matters of sin and punishment.

There is only one "High Priest" in short, and that is Jesus Christ.

In a letter published by the Vatican on Tuesday, Francis described the "existential and moral ordeal" faced by women who have terminated pregnancies and said he had "met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision".

That is undoubtedly true.  And given that Vatican teaching has traditionally been that women who kill their own unborn children cannot be forgiven in the Catholic sense, the penalty has been excommunication, or in essence, to be cast out.  Which can be seen as getting all that "Holy Mother of God" nonsense out of the way and allowing, in this context, ex-mothers to pray directly to the Father through the Son for the forgiveness they need.

But that also requires repentance, turning away from the sins they have committed and the lifestyle of sin they have pursued.  This is the factor that I do not discern in Francis's comments and where I believe his leftism enters, and pollutes, the picture.

It's amazing how a godless Pontiff can come so close to getting it right and still miss the target because he proceeds from a fundamentally false source and assumption.  But then, we as believers are, after all, supposed to be discerning.  The LORD never said that job would be an easy one.