Hurry, while special offer on absolution for abortion lasts in Spain! [View All]

[muriel_volestrangler]

Church extends authority to absolve sin of abortion for papal visit

Typically, only certain priests have the power to grant absolution for the sin of abortion and to lift excommunications that have resulted from terminated pregnancies, according to a Vatican spokesman.

“All the priests that are administering the sacrament of confession during World Youth Day have the general authority to give absolution from the penalty of excommunication for abortion if someone comes to confession… if someone has this need,” Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi told CNN on Thursday, referring to the event that brought Pope Benedict XVI to Madrid on Thursday for a four-day visit.

Madrid Archbishop Antonio María Rouco Varela announced the extension of such authority to more priests in a statement on the archdiocese's website, saying the move was made in hopes that "all of the faithful who attend the celebrations of the 26th World Youth Day in Madrid can more easily attain the fruits of divine grace, that the doors to a new life open for them."

The church has set up 200 confessional booths in a Madrid park for priests to hear confessions in.

Varela said the Roman Catholic Church “has conferred to all the priests legitimately approved to hear sacramental confessions, who are in the archdiocese of Madrid during August 15 to 22, the delegated power to remit during the sacrament of penance the excommunication… corresponding to the sin abortion, to the faithful who are truly sorry, imposing at the same time a convenient penance.”

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/18/authority-to-absolve-sin-of-abortion-extended-for-papal-visit/?hpt=hp_c2

I'd love to see a theological justification for this. Is the proximity of the pope meant to give a magical 'power-up' to the local priests, that, once he wings his way back to Rome, fades away? Is it that being keen to take part in a Catholic PR exercise is enough to overcome a 'sin' so grievous it normally merits excommunication? Is it to encourage other places to invite the pope in the future in the hope they'll be able to forgive a few extra sins, rather than regard him as an unwelcome hypocritical enabler of child rape, as rather too many Catholic countries are starting to see him as?