Pope Francis Absolves Priests of Forgiving Abortions

Today, the Catholic Church made an unprecedented move that may possibly change the course of history, especially when it comes to women’s equality: Pope Francis has granted all Catholic priests the authority to forgive abortions in a letter released by the Vatican this morning.

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“I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life," the pope wrote. "In the same way, however, I can and must state that there is no sin that God's mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father. May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation."

Now let’s back up for a second. Original Catholic doctrines state that every human life "from the moment of conception until death is sacred," and that any Catholic who has an abortion incurs automatic excommunication, a penalty that often only a bishop can lift. But that first shifted on December 8, 2015—the start of the Church’s Year of Mercy, which, according to the Catholic News Agency, is a period of Jubilee and one of leniency for priests in forgiving churchgoers for their sins—specifically calling out forgiveness for those who had procured abortions.

The Year of Mercy officially ended yesterday (that’s November 20, 2016), but the Pope made a game-changing decision to extend the abortion-specific policy, per the letter above, indefinitely, it seems.

Here at Allure, we are—and have always been, and always plan to be—feminists. We are staunch supporters of women’s equality in every facet of life. We agree wholeheartedly that “women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights,” as former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said two decades ago at a UN conference in Beijing. And while we emerge from a divisive and tumultuous 2016 election (that at the very least, had an effect on our sex lives), our hopes for the future of feminism have taken a hit, our anxieties have been on the rise. And so it is with great joy, pride, and optimism that we thank Pope Francis for giving us a reason to believe that women’s rights do matter, that our rights are absolutely human rights, and that 2016 (and 2017) may just turn out to be a wonderful time to be a woman after all.

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