So that all may understand what Pope Francis is reported to have done for the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, here is the current practice in the Church.
Abortion that is deliberately procured (in other words: asked for by a woman who knows that it is gravely wrong and that it can get her separated from the life of the Church) or that is deliberately performed on another results in “excommunication latae sententiae”…an archaic way of saying: By your thoughtless and heartless act, you have separated yourself from the Body of Christ. Nobody did this to you. You did it to yourself.
That is how seriously the Church takes the UNJUST AND EVIL TERMINATION of human life.
Of course the Church understands the difficulty that women sometimes find themselves in….but no difficulty is ever so that it can justify terminating life in the womb.
It is a RESERVED SIN…which means that it takes a bishop to absolve it in the Sacrament of Penance.
In actual practice, bishops will grant some, if not all of their priests, the “faculties” (read: powers) to forgive these sins in his behalf.
During the Jubilee Year of Mercy, it seems that Pope Francis is minded on granting the faculty to all priests.
Does this make abortion any more benign? IT CAN NEVER BE BENIGN…and that is why Pope Francis’ gesture means a lot.
It confronts the horror of the sin of abortion with the available mercy of God through the sacrament of penance, that can now, for such sins, be administered through the ministry of a priest, the minister of the church.
So far from saying that abortion is not as bad as it has been made of, by the Church, Pope Francis is actually saying: SEE HOW GREAT THE MERCY OF GOD IS THAT SUCH A HORRIBLE THING AS ABORTION FINDS FORGIVENESS IN HIS GENTLE HEART when one of course is truly penitent. –FR. RANHILIO CALLANGAN AQUINO
– See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535441/opinion/abortion-remains-the-terrible-thing-it-is-so-pope-francis-gesture-means-a-lot#sthash.5FzUlNuQ.dpuf
June 2025
Philippine Environment Month!
“Action for Nature, for the Future!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
1 Jun – World Day of Parents
5 Jun – World Environment Day
7 Jun – World Food Safety Day
8 Jun – World Oceans Day
12 Jun – World Day Against Child Labour
15 Jun – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
16 Jun – International Day of Family Remittances
17 Jun – World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
20 Jun – World Refugee Day
25 Jun – Day of the Seafarer
27 Jun – Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day
Daily Observances:
June 6: Migrant Workers Day
June 19: Filipino Youth Day
June 25: Day of the Filipino Seafarer
