VATICAN CITY ¨C Pope Francis will give all priests discretion during the Roman Catholic Church¡¯s Holy Year to formally forgive women who have had abortions ¡ª the Argentine pontiff¡¯s latest move toward a more open and inclusive church.
In Church teaching, abortion is such a grave sin that those who procure or perform it incur an automatic excommunication, which can only be lifted by designated church officials.
However, from Dec. 8 to Nov. 26, during an extraordinary Holy Year, or ¡°Jubilee¡± on the theme of mercy, all priests will be able to do so if the women repent ¡°with a contrite heart,¡± the pope said in a letter published by the Vatican on Tuesday.
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