The Pope has made a proclamation.
I know that it is an existential and moral ordeal. I have met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision. What has happened is profoundly unjust; yet only understanding the truth of it can enable one not to lose hope. The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented, especially when that person approaches the Sacrament of Confession with a sincere heart in order to obtain reconciliation with the Father. For this reason too, I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee Year the discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it.
Gosh. In the spirit of reciprocity, I am compelled to make an equal offer. I know that it is an intellectual ordeal, and that deep in their hearts priests are scarred and regretful at their abandonment of the integrity of their minds, their lifelong commitment to an amoral and corrupt institution, and the emotional stunting involved in a life of celibacy.
I have decided that all atheists have the discretion to forgive and accept the apologies of any priest who willingly renounces the church, now and forever, and for that matter, at all times in the past. It’s not really a power for me to give, but hey, I’m just returning his favor.
By the way, all atheists have the discretion to say “Fuck you” to patronizing priests who think they have the power to forgive you for acts for which you have no regrets.
It’s amazing how powerful we all are.
There are, of course, plenty of asexual people for whom celibacy is not emotionally stunting, PZ. I agree that enforced celibacy is unnatural, but it’s not the celibacy that’s the issue, it’s the forced part. Mind the splash damage, huh?
It’s nice that there’s at least one liberal site that sees through this smiling fascist. Even many atheists act like he’s god’s gift to humanity.
Still looking forward to the exploding heads this will undoubtedly create.
Full text of the letter is linked to in the article PZ linked to, but in case readers don’t get that far here’s the full text of the letter in various languages:
http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2015/09/01/0637/01386.html#ing
I also have to second CaitieCat.
Deen,
And that’s the sad thing isn’t it? This Pope has managed to cultivate a merciful benign image that hard liners love to hate, and those on the fence feel like they can use as an excuse to more readily embrace their cultural Catholicism.
I absolutely hate that so many atheists or wishy washy Catholics think this guy is the bestest pope we could wish for.
One thing you got to give him – he’s very consistent in being completely illogical.
So, as I understand it, the Great Zarquon will never withhold forgiveness, from anyone, if they (she, really) truly feels contrite. But, just for this special occasion, I am giving my authority figure minions special permission to grant forgiveness, to anyone, if they (she, really) truly feels contrite.
[?]**n
Where n –> a very large number.
Quantum duality is trivial by comparison…
He should be careful about general things like that!
Hasn’t he seen the movie Dogma?????
Back when I was a Catholic, all that was required to make a good confession was sincere regret and a resolve to not commit that sin again.
Priests have always had the ability to forgive any sin.
Unless They lied to me…
I will ask, superfluously, to translate the popespeak into natural language. I read that screed as saying, no one can deny God’s forgiveness, yet priests are those who have the power to erase sins from sinners’ souls. And to be generous, he’ll violate the rules and let priests erase those sins from womenz who are really distraught from committing that sin.
ack. reading what I just wrote, above, seems I’m falling into the same kind of pretzelspeak I accuse the popester of.
focusing on that last line the pope spoke:
tr: priests have my permission (for a year), to forgive women who aborted and weep 4 forgiveness; regardless of the rules forbidding giving forgiveness to those murderers.
FTFY
PZ, you forgot to use the words “sincere heart” and “contrite heart.” Sincere contriteness, or is that contrite sincerity, are essential to win forgiveness…and from the heart. We’ll have to pull out our sincerity meters and contriteness calipers to be sure.
Actually , I’m impressed.
The way he manages to score points with more progressive Catholics while continuously shaming women who had or will have abortions, reinforcing the notion they should be guilty and torn about abortion… that’s some genius work.
Jubilee? So he’s too impatient to wait another decade?
Sili — The Pope can call an “extraordinary jubilees in addition [ to the regular ones ] depending on need” (The Pppffff). So he can call them whenever he wants. Frank’s will be next year. The last one was in 2000. They’ve come every 15 years or so since the beginning of the 20th century. Maybe we’ve needed more forgiveness in the last 100 years than since 1300. I can hardly wait. Perhaps I’ll dance naked through the streets of Rome, like David leading the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.
IANAC, but it’s my understanding that in the Catholic Church abortion incurs automatic excommunication, and that only bishops and higher ranks have had the power to lift it. I think they can also delegate this power to their priests, but haven’t been required to. If all of that is true, this is actually a fairly big deal for Catholic women. If it makes their lives a bit easier, that’s less bad.
The doling out of judgement by proxy and forgiveness by proxy has got to be the most infuriating thing that christians do.
Rob — A problem with this sort of non-forgiveness is that the woman has to shame herself to obtain it. That’s what he means, essentially, with “…those who…, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it.” Perhaps she only has to shame herself before her priest, but that’s sick enough. I can imagine some communities were the shaming would be more public. Regardless of the scope, it’s still shaming merely to obtain an absolution which she doesn’t need, he doesn’t have the power to grant, and in any case, there is no god taking notes.
And note that this is all about the women. The words “man,” “men,” and “father” (except with a capital F) do not appear in Frank’s letter regarding this absolution for “Giubileo Straordinario della Misericordia” (Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy). I guess the sperm sources aren’t guilty of anything.
#8
Yeah, that confuses me too. But perhaps the priest *can* forgive but it isn’t guaranteed he *will*. And furthermore he can be forbidden to. Catholicism is weird.
So, what other sins require excommunication? Murder? Is abortion *worse* than murder?
woozy — Other sins that result in automatic excommunication (latae sententiae): apostasy, heresy, schism, and some others. Oh, and throwing away the consecrated host…you know, like a certain Pee Zed.
robro @17:
Yes, that’s why I said “less bad”.
If she’s a believing Catholic, she may feel she needs it.
Rob Grigjanis,
Why that could help some women, I’m also seeing those for whom it just reinforces the belief that what they did was wrong and that they should feel guilty about it.
I believe Tim Minchin has said about all that needs be said regarding the pope.
Marus Ranum,
agreed
I think they picked the wrong thing to celebrate this Jubilee Year. I think they should be celebrating how they rooted out and punished all the child rapists in their ranks and the bishops who facilitated the ongoing horror.
Wait, what? Frank has been there for over 2 years and done SFA about that?
Oops. Well, guess we go back to Standard Operating Procedure. Shame those dirty sinful women. Tried and true.
Beatrice @21:
That’s too theoretical for me. If they believed that abortion automatically excommunicated them, how could its “wrongness” even be reinforced? If they believe to begin with, how can an easier road to absolution reinforce the wrongness? I’d have thought it would have the opposite effect.
well he may be the best “possible” Pope of the catholic church, probably is. It is the catholic church after all there was no way someone like say PZ would be likely even want to be part of such an ossified organization.
To expect anything different is like expecting someone like Ralf Nader to be hired as CEO of GM.
uncle frogy
Rob Grigjanis,
Not all Catholics are die hard Catholics, they like to cherry pick as much as the next religious believer. I was never taught that abortion would get me excommunicated if I had one and with the kind of Catholic I was, I would have probably had a private chat with God instead of saying anything to a priest since I didn’t like them much even then.
But this message? I don’t know, it’s too much speculation about what I would have done in a situation I’ve never been in, but I imagine this could disrupt any happy narrative of that private chat with God, seeding doubt.
Beatrice @27: Fair enough, and point taken.
woozy — To answer your question re murder: No, murder is not on the list for automatic excommunication. Having an abortion or helping someone have an abortion is.
I’m actually shocked by this announcement.
I grew up Catholic, and attended a Catholic middle school as well as a Catholic high school before becoming an atheist. I was taught that the whole point of the sacrament of confession was that you WERE forgiven for your sins, whatever they were. The priest providing the forgiveness was more of a formality. I was told that the only “mortal sin” that was unforgivable was fully and earnestly turning away from god (which you wouldn’t be confessing anyways). The way the priests/friars/nuns/teachers talked about it, the actual forgiveness part was a given. This announcement from the Pope is telling me that that was all a lie. You can be forgiven for murder, but abortion has now been promoted to a “if the priest feels like it, they are now allowed to forgive this”? I think I’m gonna be sick.
The priest providing the forgiveness was more of a formality.
As I understand it, according to doctrine, penance shortens your time in Purgatory, and penance can only be assigned by a priest following a sincere and contrite confession. Unmediated relationships with god do not exist according to the Catholic church, at least not in any effective way that would have implications for the state of one’s soul.
Now, this is such a transparently self-serving authoritarian justification that I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s suppressed by the more liberal priests, but it is still the official position of the church.
To those who see this as any kind of significant step toward reason or away from patriarchy on the part of the church, I say it’s such a small step that you would need an electron microscope to see the amount of progress it represents. The path to forgiveness for having an abortion is a little less onerous for one year, & then it reverts back to the status quo ante? Forget it. Let me know when the pope decrees that women don’t need forgiveness for having an abortion. Then maybe we can talk. And if his holiness wants to reduce the number of abortions, he should tell his followers it’s OK to use contraception.
The local TV news just called the pope’s action a “bold statement” & said he was “shaking things up.” What an insufferable crock of $#!%.
CJO @31
You have to remember that the RCC, like all religions, is selling something that can’t be seen, touched, etc. So the function of the clergy is to assure the people with the cash that although hoi polloi can’t interact with god,the special men with the funny collars can (which is why the plebs need to support the special men and their collars). In other words, grifters gotta grift.
@32:
I would say have been deceived by the papal cleverly phrasing the patriarchal decrees to appear non-patriarchal while reinforcing it. By saying that he will allow priests to temporarily violate the rules …; he is essentially saying , while simultaneously reinforcing the concept that . (As in: )
Any advance in the direction of “reason”, would to acknowledge that it is overstepping their legitimacy to assert control of women’s health decisions. At least, “do not expect us to forgive those who committed no sin. Their decision concerning their self is not sinful, we got sinners to worry about.” At least.
Having had one of those possible catholic forgivable abortions I say fuck you and spit at the pope. I was taught that women were the problem (adams’ rib and eve) from my toddlerhood on. I was the problem and the children that were male were welcomed to participate in The Mass. Luckily I grew up in the 70″s and realized that women were just as capable as men. Unluckily, I was too frightened by the catholic church to go against and avail myself of birth control. I ended up pregnant and emotionally crippled through the dictates of the church. It doesn’t matter that the man who impregnated me was married (I didn’t know) but it was my sin and I have been excommunicated since. If the catholic church was truly interested they would eliminate the men that they want myself and others to beg forgiveness from. After all it was a man who was halfway responsible (and frankly I protest that ).
Some members of my family regularly coo over how progressive and enlightened this Pope supposedly is, and all because of exactly this kind of manipulative, mendacious double talk. As usual, it is all spin – to the causal observer it may appear to be a meaningful concession to sanity, but upon closer inspection it still shames women for exercising their right to bodily autonomy, and the minute improvement it arguably represents is temporary in any case. This is exactly the same trick he has pulled with regard to his supposed ‘tolerance’ for homosexuality, which naturally evaporated like the morning mist the moment it was tested.
This Pope is no progressive, he is merely a slicker and more accomplished conman than some of his peers in the catholic clergy. Sadly, it seems that his transparent, hypocritical patter is enough to gull all too many into thinking that he something other than the oppressive, bigoted arsehole in a stupid hat he truly is.
As Marcus Ranum points out @ 22, Tim Minchin still has the last word on the value of the papacy.
RE:37:Gregory Greenwood
This Pope is no progressive, he is merely a slicker and more accomplished conman than some of his peers in the catholic clergy. Sadly, it seems that his transparent, hypocritical patter is enough to gull all too many into thinking that he something other than the oppressive, bigoted arsehole in a stupid hat he truly is.
The new pope is the same as the old pope….except he has a P.R. firm.
rE. 38:Pinkbunnies
At least PR firms are preferable to armies, like in the really bad old days.
I’m conflicted about this. On the one hand, I’m appalled and furious for all the reasons everyone has stated, but on the other hand, I’m secretly relived because my grandmother will find some measure of consolation in this statement. In spite of being a feminist, she is still deeply (if rather progressively) catholic, and the horror stories she’s told (confessed?) to be about her unwanted pregnancies are truly heartbreaking. It’s a pretty selfish reasoning, really, but I’m a pretty selfish person, if I’m honest!
bonzaikitten,
Rob Grigjanis has a similar interpretation to this.
I think it’s a no-win for those of us who condemn the Catholic Church for its misogyny. I’m sure you know your grandmother well and as Rob Grigjanis says this will bring relief to many more women.
I believe it will also harm others, both in reinforcing their individual guilt and reinforcing CHurch’s condemnation of abortion.
Catholic Church still has too much of a hold on the world, and as long as it is as evil as it is, it’s going to be causing some significant amount of harm by whatever they do.
Truly, he is the progressive leader the world has been waiting for… or so we are constantly told for some bizarre reason… O_o
Thanks PJ – this post cheered me up considerably on a evening when I’ve spent far too much time pondering the damage Catholicism has caused me over the years. Fuck ’em.
A confessional box in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostella had a notice saying that confessions are available in Spanish, Irish and English. An elderly priest sat in the open box and chatted benignly to anyone who passed.
I’m always happy to meet a fellow Irish person so I stopped and greeted him in Irish. He responded in English with a “Now what county man might you be?” question.
It’s not really polite to change the language in the second sentence of a conversation. However many people are uncomfortable with anything other than the most superficial conversation in Irish so I switched to English.
We chatted for a while, I told him of my cycle trip from Clonmacnoise and gave him a tiny candle and candlestick from there.
Then he produced a small purple stole and put it on. This is a sign that Holy Mother Church is sad to see one of it’s children in sin and an invitation to confession and absolution.
Old mental barriers slammed shut with a bang that must have been audible to everyone in the huge building. Suddenly I found myself talking to a representative of the enemy!
Once my father cycled 30 miles to confess to a bishop. He had committed a ‘reserved’ sin that could not be forgiven by an ordinary priest. What was his sin? He had attended a protestant church service to carry the coffin of a boyhood friend.
The history of the Catholic church in Ireland is a horrific catalog of physical, mental and sexual abuse of the powerless. Children, women and the poor were all fair game, the powerless were routinely sacrificed to protect the more powerful. But, at least in Ireland, they did not organise murder squads.
Catholic Spain was much worse. I’d been reading Giles Tremlett’s book “Ghosts of Spain”. He told the story of Florencia Calvo, now an elderly woman. She was the child of dead republican ‘rojo’ parents, and a refugee with adoptive parents in France. At the end of the civil war the nationalist government wanted these children back and the Vichy government was happy to cooperate.
When she was ten years old Vichy police took her by force from her adoptive family and handed her over to Spanish nuns. For years she wet the bed every night and every morning the nuns forced her to parade through the orphanage refectory with the wet bedclothes wrapped around her head.
During the worst years of the Francoist terror, the Falange systematically murdered anyone they wished. Almost anything could qualify you for the death list. Tremlett writes about 26-year-old, pregnant, Valerian Granada. She was one of three women killed by the Falange on 29th December 1936 in Poyales del Hojyo outside Madrid. She once was the girlfriend of the husband of the woman who denounced her.
During this time the catholic church routinely broke one of it’s own most sacred rules, the sanctity of confession. Many people were picked up and murdered by the Falange immediately after their yearly confession.
Sorry father, I gave up playing that game when I was fifteen years old and I’m literally dammed if I start it now! I politely excused myself and left.
Beatrice,
Oh, I agree absolutely! Hence the conflicted feeling.