Mercy at World Youth Day

Abortion only forgiven in Madrid? Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Catholic Register says not quite:

Hey, gals, there’s a one-time-only “special” on forgiveness in Madrid this week! Had an abortion? No problem, as they say in Spain. The Pope in Rome has waived your culpability — just this once!!

Rest assured: It’s not quite what you have been reading in much of the news coverage.

For WYD Madrid, it is true that 200 confessionals have been set up for a sacramental opportunity for pilgrims.

But this abortion-forgiveness issue is not a one-time only or particularly rare opportunity. As one U.S.-based, Rome-trained priest on his way to Madrid pointed out, the position of those confessors is not all that rare, at least not for Americans. “Such faculties to remove the censure incurred by abortion (when someone has an abortion knowing it is a de facto [latae sententiae] excommunicable offense) are normal in the U.S. Basically every bishop gives it to every priest who hears confessions because abortion is rather common, especially among women who have been away from the sacrament for awhile.

Photo: Confession at WYD Madrid