The extraordinary Jubilee year of Mercy which commenced on December 8, 2015, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, will go on till November 20, 2016, the feast of Christ the King.
Declaring the upcoming jubilee, Pope Francis, the Head of the Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican City in Rome calls upon the Catholic Church to refashion as a place not of judgement but of pardon. During the extraordinary Jubilee year of Mercy, Roman Catholic Church priests will be allowed to absolve women who have had abortions. Pope Francis set a new tone for this jubilee with his surprise announcement in September last year that he would be granting every priest the discretion to absolve women for having had abortions. Incidentally the Catholic Church dogma considers terminating a pregnancy a heinous sin, and it is normally punishable by excommunication. The motto, “Merciful like the Father,” he said, “serves as an invitation to follow the merciful example of the Father in heaven.”
Jubel D’Cruz
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
