Pope Francis will give all priests discretion during the Roman Catholic Church's Holy Year to formally forgive women who have had abortions — 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.