Let's keep this dialogue going...as you can see, there is room for discussion, and it's happening
within the RCC proper as well. Here is an excerpt from the linked article that delves into Pope Francis' response to a 2009 case of a 9 yr old girl who was impregnated by her Stepfather, and she got a legal abortion (in Brazil)...the local bishop excommunicated virtually everyone associated with it, but was overturned by Francis, who then went on to give Every RCC Priest the authority to 'Forgive' such an abortion after 'Reconciliation'. Here's an excerpt summarizing the rationale...
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What will change?
What Pope Francis is doing is allowing priests to simultaneously lift the penalty of excommunication and absolving someone who confesses to procuring an abortion. In other words, the intervention of the local bishop is no longer necessary.
In many parts of the Catholic world, the pope’s decision actually does not change anything. For example, in most American dioceses priests already have the permission to do exactly what Pope Francis is allowing: to lift the penalty of excommunication and absolve the sin of procuring abortion.
So, perhaps the most relevant questions are, “Why is Pope Francis doing this now and what difference does it make?”
On one level, Pope Francis is extending a practice that has now become common in many places and making it universal throughout the Catholic Church: not all Catholic dioceses or bishops allow their priests to lift excommunication along with absolving the sin of procured abortion. As the 2009 Brazilian case makes clear, that authority is not in place in many dioceses.
The intervention of the local bishop will not be necessary in granting forgiveness for abortion. L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP
But on another level, Pope Francis’s act is encouraging priests to be more sensitive to context of their parishioners’ lives, as in the case of the nine-year-old girl, and to rely less upon legalistic formulas and definitions when it comes to dealing with the complex realities of human life.
In the United States, for example, Catholic women tend to obtain abortions at a greater rate than Protestant women. In 2014, 24 percent of U.S. abortion patients identified as Catholic.
Given the strong prohibition against abortion in the Catholic Church, it is clear that a significant number of Catholic women in the United States believe that an abortion is a personal decision that reflects their own assessment of what is not only in their best interest but also in the best interests of their families.
A path for the church to be more merciful
While Pope Francis’ decision in relation to abortion is not surprising in and of itself, it is part of an overall approach to Catholic teaching and practice that seeks to make it more humane, more merciful and more easily adaptable to the vicissitudes of everyday human life.
And just as this approach has many supporters who value flexibility and sensitivity, it also has detractors who value the clarity and cogency of timeless truths that allow no variation in their application and enforcement.
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You may have seen me invoke a couple of phrases like "Critical Thinking" and "Prudential Judgement"...this situation begs those thoughts...let's continue to share opinions/thoughts.