“God always forgives” women who are seeking forgiveness for aborting their unborn babies, Pope Francis said Sunday.
The Catholic Church leader said he has heard “terrible” things in confession from women who aborted their unborn babies and later regretted it, according to The Eagle Online.
“To really understand the drama of abortion you have to be in a confessional, [it is] terrible,’’ the pope said Sunday. “There you find a path of reconciliation between the mother and the [aborted] child. Because God has already forgiven. God always forgives.’’
He said he often encourages post-abortive women to sing a lullaby to their child in heaven.
“I always advise (women), when they call and are desperate, I tell them their child is in heaven, talk to him, I tell them to sing them a lullaby, the lullaby that they had never been able to sing,” Pope Francis continued, The Tablet reports. “Here they find a path for reconciliation, between mother and child, with the forgiveness of God. God is all forgiving. Mercy also means helping the woman live through this trauma.”
Click Like if you are pro-life to like the LifeNews Facebook page and receive the latest pro-life news.
The pope has been consistently strong in his condemnation of abortion, but he also strongly encourages compassion and mercy toward those involved in abortions. In 2015, he issued a letter indicating the Catholic Church made it easier for women to obtain forgiveness from a priest for an abortion. The idea is to show compassion and grace to post-abortive women in the same way Jesus displayed forgiveness and mercy to the woman at the well.
Pope Francis often has condemned abortion, describing aborted babies as victims of a “throwaway culture.” The Catholic Church teaches that every human life is valuable from the moment of conception to natural death because human beings are created in the image of God.
In October, he angered abortion activists by likening abortion to “hiring a hitman” to kill unborn babies.
“Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem? You cannot, it is not right to kill a human being, regardless of how small it is, to solve a problem. It is like hiring a hitman to solve a problem,” Pope Francis said at the time.
