Absolution by the Holy See

[katherineH]

Hello friends,

I read this article at the Washington Post that left me with some questions... hopefully you can answer! http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/07/pope-francis-will-send-missionaries-of-mercy-to-absolve-women-of-abortion-sin/

The article says that there are sins that are only absolvable by a Bishop or the Pope himself.  Is this true? How is that even logistically possible that every woman who had an abortion would confess to the Pope or to a Bishop?

"There will be priests to whom I will grant the authority to pardon even those sins reserved to the Holy See, so that the breadth of their mandate as confessors will be even clearer."

What are the sins that can only be absolved by the Holy See?

Thanks! I hope you can help

[truthfinder]

Hello friends,

I read this article at the Washington Post that left me with some questions... hopefully you can answer! http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/07/pope-francis-will-send-missionaries-of-mercy-to-absolve-women-of-abortion-sin/

The article says that there are sins that are only absolvable by a Bishop or the Pope himself.  Is this true? How is that even logistically possible that every woman who had an abortion would confess to the Pope or to a Bishop?

"There will be priests to whom I will grant the authority to pardon even those sins reserved to the Holy See, so that the breadth of their mandate as confessors will be even clearer."

What are the sins that can only be absolved by the Holy See?

Thanks! I hope you can help

​Yes, there are a handful of sins which are graviora delicta and are thus reserved to the Pope himself.  Abortion is reserved to the local ordinary (bishop) but in many cases bishops have also granted this permission to priests.  If it has not been granted, the priest will be able to obtain the permission to absolve by going to the bishop and explaining, without breaking the seal of confession, and should be able to grant the absolution the next time around (obviously a bit complicated, but abortions are much more prevalent than before).  Sins reserved to the Pope himself are sacrilege of the Eucharist, a priest breaking the seal of the confessional, a priest abusing the confessional for sexual misdeeds, and those who attempt to harm the Pope physically as an act of sacrilege (most of these can be dealt through the Apostolic Penitentiary in Rome, but the final say and the authority comes from the Pope).  These all need to go through the bishop or Apostolic Penitentiary because they involve automatic excommunications that are reserved for these authorities to lift before an absolution can be granted.

I'm assuming that the Pope wishes to make these special missionaries so that in places heavily plagued by abortion but at the same time with bishops who reserve the right to absolve these sins for themselves, it will become easier to gain the necessary lifting of the excommunications and absolutions. 

Hope this makes sense.