Pope Francis On Abortion

The topic of abortion is a highly controversial topic. About half of the population is against abortion. It is said that forty-six percent of people believe that abortion should be legal in most case, while forty-four percent of people say that abortion should almost always be illegal.(Pappas, 2012) This split has slowly been decreasing as there have been laws and religious views that have changed the way people view abortion. While it is seen as morally incorrect to some, many others find it is the right of the woman to decide to keep the baby or kill it. To some, abortion is seen as the right of a woman to do with her own body as she pleases. To some others, abortion is seen as a homicide and the murder of a helpless life. This is the case

of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church has viewed abortion as a grave sin for many years and still does so today. In the Bible, it states that it abortion is forbidden, just as murder is forbidden (Brom, 2004) .
In more recent times, people have become progressively open-minded in regards to their beliefs and religious ideologies. This fairly recent trend affecting most of the more recent generations is partly due to the way media portrays certain issues. Many products of more recent generations are raised behind a television or telephone screen. Due to this, they are exposed, from a rather early age, to celebrities and other people who become their role models. Most of these celebrities pride themselves on their liberal ways of thinking. Moreover, these social pressures from the media and their peers, drives people to accept that what others believe is what is right. This is not always the case, though.
On the other hand, religion also expresses a great deal of opinions on the topic of abortion. Since there are so many types of religions out there, they all have different views about how one should live their lives and what is morally correct. Three religions with differing views on abortion are Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. In Buddhism,
“there is no official position on abortion among Buddhists, although many Buddhists believe that life begins at conception and that killing is morally wrong. In Japan, where there is a large Buddhist population, abortions are commonly practiced and often involve the Buddhist tradition of mizuko jizo, in which aborted fetuses are thought to be led to the land of the dead (Liu, 2013)”.
In Hinduism, it is understood that, unless the mother is at risk, the act of abortion is an act that is going against the teachings of said religion, which typically promotes nonviolence. Hinduism believes that the right “course of action” is the one that causes the least harm.(Liu, 2013) In the Islamic religion and its teachings, there is a more loosely defined stance on abortion. Islamic scholars have varying views about when a life begins and when an abortion should be allowed. Many of these scholars do agree that the act of abortion should not be allowed after four months of pregnancy. Prior to this time, some believe that abortion should be allowed in cases where the mother is at risk or in cases of rape.(Liu, 2013)
As previously stated, the Roman Catholic Church has a very strong opinion in regards to the topic of abortion. The Church and most of its followers see the act of abortion as a grave sin. It is taught that no human has the ability to take away one's life and that it is only the will and power of God to do so. The Roman Catholic Church and its followers have been teaching that the act of abortion is wrong since its beginning. There are many teachings that have been passed down signaling the disapproval of this act, such as the following teaching from the writings of Tertullian: "To prevent birth is anticipated murder; it makes little difference whether one destroys a life already born or does away with it in its nascent stage. The one who will be man is already one (Saunders)”. This explains that, although many do not agree, from conception, there is a human being living inside of the woman. No matter if the being is a week old or nine months old, it should not be aborted because it would be a murder.
These teachings from the Roman Catholic religion are all against the act of abortion and promote the idea that abortions are immoral due to the fact that they involve the murder of an innocent living being. Even at the commencement of the Roman Catholic Church, there was always a strict ideology in regards to the disapproval of abortion and how it should never be accepted and always condemned. The ideologies since that time have not changed very much.
In 2016, Pope Francis, the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church took a big step by changing the way this religion would view the act of abortion and how forgiveness for such an act could be obtained.

In the past, in the Roman Catholic religion, only bishops were allowed to forgive abortions or designate priests to do so, but Pope Francis began to allow priests to forgive said abortions without needing the permission of a bishop. (Kirchgaessner, 2016) When Pope Francis made this call, he, additionally, stated in the Apostolic letter that abortion is still a grave sin because it does end the life of an innocent and helpless being. Moreover, he stated that, although abortion is such a grave sin in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, there is no sin that God cannot forgive and wipe away from the sinner if the sinner is seeking forgiveness from the Lord. To allow priests to forgive such an act of grave sin, Pope Francis was allowing priests to be a support for those who have committed such a sin as abortion. (Kirchgaessner, 2016) While the act of abortion is seen as such a terrible sin in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis affirms that there is no sin, or harm, that is too great that the power of God could not dissipate these sins if the sinner is remorseful. Many of those who go through abortion do feel pain and remorse because of the life that they killed, but as long as they are trying each and every day to seek God and ask for forgiveness, God will

eventually heal them and free them from their own sins. Additionally, Pope Francis felt this change would be good due to the progressive changes in the views of many followers of the Church and its teachings. It is said that the women's movements that have been occurring throughout the world have changed the views of many, including some people of the church. Many followers of the Roman Catholic Church, and even some church officials, have become increasingly more accepting of pro-choice ideologies. (Kirchgaessner, 2016)
Due to the fact that this was a major change in the religion's teachings, many people have had their disagreements with the pope and his more open-minded ways of thinking about abortion and other ideas.

It is a great change in comparison to all the strict and narrow-minded popes that had preceded Pope Francis. Many people began to believe that Pope Francis is too lenient on the topic and other subject matters and that there should be some type of punishment to those that have had, or will have, an abortion. Some followers are upset that other role models are more strict on their opinions about abortions, such as Mr. Donald J. Trump who has stated that he believes women who have an abortion should be punished (Williams, 2016). It is hard for many of the followers of the Roman Catholic Church to accept these changes of ideas that have been passed down and practiced for so many years prior. With those who oppose, though, there are those who stand by the pope and believe that people should be allowed a chance to be forgiven and that God should be the only one that decides what happens in their lives. Although the rules in regards to the forgiveness of abortion have recently been altered, it still stands as a grave sin and is still considered murder within the teachings of the Roman Catholic

Church.
While many people do have different views on the topic of abortion, and will continue to do so since it is such a controversial topic, the Roman Catholic Church and its teachings have never and, still to this day, do not approve of the practice of abortion. Abortion is still seen as a terrible sin which harms one's relationship with the Lord and can only be forgiven by the Lord when one is full of remorse for their actions. Although Pope Francis seems to take into account the recent progressive ideologies, it is hard for one to believe that the Roman Catholic Church would ever approve of such a practice such as this.