It’s Pope Francis Who Should Apologize on Abortion

[cleanhippie]

Pope Francis has a limited-time offer just for women who have abortions: Confess, and you won’t be excommunicated. Hurry! Only women who confess to a priest before November 20, 2016—during the “Year of Mercy”—will remain eligible to kneel and pray at the instruction of an all-male hierarchy that insists upon the subordination of women.

“I am well aware of the pressure that has led [women who have abortions] to this decision,” the Pope said. He suggested women “believe they have no other option.” Priests will have the “discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it.”

It seems the Pope Francis Sex TalkTM brand is expanding. With his latest comments, Pope Francis has built a shiny new smokescreen to distract from the grave and immoral harms caused by the Vatican’s opposition to abortion and women’s equality.

This has practically become a formula: Cool Pope says something that sounds like he cares about the huge swaths of people routinely discriminated against by the biggest patriarchy in the world for being women, gay, or unwilling to have children. But the doctrine doesn’t change, which means that nice comments don’t make for nice policy. Lobbyists representing the Catholic Church’s leadership continue to wreak great destruction around the world, whether messing with the Affordable Care Act at home or insisting on denying condoms to people in AIDS-ravaged areas abroad. And billions of public dollars are funneled into Catholic institutions that insist they have a right to discriminate on the taxpayer dole.

--snip--

A woman who has had an abortion has done nothing wrong. She doesn’t need to apologize, and she certainly doesn’t need to apologize to a man representing an institution that denies her equality. (Remember when Pope Benedict compared the ordination of women to pedophilia? Pope Francis has enforced the same toxic nonsense about keeping women out of the priesthood; he just says things that make it sound nicer.) So, then, this isn’t actually about reassuring women who have had abortions. This is about continuing to single them out and shame them.

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/09/02/pope-francis-apologize-abortion/

Fuck. The. Pope.

[trotsky]

1. "This is about continuing to single them out and shame them."

Exactly.

YAY POPE AWESOME!!!

[cleanhippie]

3. If his popiness can 'forgive' women for a year, why can't he issue permanent 'forgiveness'?

Because this is just part of his

shiny new smokescreen to distract from the grave and immoral harms caused by the Vatican’s opposition to abortion and women’s equality

.

And the Laity continues to fill the pews and the coffers.

And the apologists will be along any minute now to deflect, defend, and try to seep it under the rug. Like it never even happened.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. He's giving each priest 'discretion' to forgive if the priest feels like it. It is a year of greater

power for priests over women who are in that faith. 'For one year, if you beg hard enough the man in charge of you might forgive you'.
It's nasty stuff.

[AtheistCrusader]

2. +1 Fuck The Pope

[bvf]

4. Exactly right.

It's just so sad that this mind-fuck will be welcomed in some quarters.

[trotsky]

5. A breath of fresh air!

A welcome change! We should embrace him!



Fuck that homophobic, misogynistic bigot and his homophobic, misogynistic church.

[beam me up scottie]

7. Yes he should.

For centuries of oppression as well.

[goldent]

8. Moving forward