Courtney McGrailThe Pope is underlining the fact that Confession is a path of authentic conversion, writes Fr Michael Mullaney
Fr Michael Mullaney
Pope Francis has decided to give all priests for the ‘Year of Mercy’ the faculty to absolve excommunication for abortion. Why is this? Echoing his own words, so that the mercy of God is not beyond anyone who truly desires it, or forgiveness denied someone who contritely approaches the Sacrament of Confession. In particular, this includes those who procured an abortion and now desire forgiveness for it.
This does not undermine the gravity of the sin of abortion nor bring into doubt the validity of any such absolution given in the past. According to canon 1398, anyone who knowingly and freely procures an abortion incurs what is termed an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication.
Mistakenly, many assume that this excommunication is incurred only by women who knowingly and freely procure an abortion. However, those who directly pressurised or supported the procurement of an abortion, or those who actually carried out the termination of a pregnancy may also incur excommunication.
The ‘Year of Mercy’ faculty would cover all such cases.
Normally, and particularly in the past, the absolution of the excommunication for abortion was reserved to bishops and canon penitentiaries in dioceses.
Even before Pope Francis granted all priests this faculty, the law already granted it to priests in specific ministries and pastoral contexts: chaplains in hospitals, prisons and on sea voyages, but only in those locations (canon 566, §2); to priests ministering to someone in danger of death (canon 976); and to any priest if it is “difficult for the penitent to remain in a state of grave sin” as explained to confessors in canon 1357.
In more recent times, many bishops have extended this faculty to all their priests so as to ease the anguish and help heal the wound of abortion in those cases where excommunication was incurred.
Even if someone confesses to having procured an abortion, as every confessor knows, it is rare for the sanction of excommunication to be incurred. The Code of Canon Law lists a number of mitigating circumstances: anyone who acted under pressure; compulsion of grave fear; severe stress; or unaware that that abortion incurred a sanction, etc.
A more comprehensive list is found in canons 1322-1324.
For these reasons, a confessor rarely finds himself in a situation where an individual who has procured an abortion is excommunicated.
During the ‘Year of Mercy’, when a confessor is ministering to a penitent who has incurred automatic excommunication for abortion, the exercise of the faculty requires nothing more than the confessor’s intention to remove the excommunication while relating the words of absolution (the Rite of Penance, Appendix I).
However, to distinguish between the sanction and the sin, the priest can absolve the excommunication with the following words: “By the power granted to me, I absolve you of the sanction of excommunication, in the name of the Father…”.
So, what is the purpose of the law retaining a special faculty for priests to absolve the excommunication for abortion? The primary purpose is to remind all Catholics of the sacredness of human life from the moment of conception, and the need to protect and defend the life of a vulnerable child in the womb.
The law, therefore, is pedagogical, and serves to dissuade and prevent the option of abortion.
In this ‘Year of Mercy’, all priests are granted the faculty to absolve excommunication for abortion so that the Church can be sincere in its “words of genuine welcome…indicating a path of authentic conversion by which to obtain the true and generous forgiveness of the Father who renews all with his presence” (Pope Francis).
Dr Michael Mullaney JCD is Professor of Canon Law at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.