On Tuesday, Pope Francis announced that priests worldwide would be able to forgive parishioners for the “sin of abortion” during the “Year of Mercy,” which begins this December and ends in November 2016. In a statement, he expressed, that “the forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented” and that he knows of “many women” who have made the “agonizing and painful” choice to have an abortion. This amnesty does not signal a policy change for the Catholic Church, according to CNN. However, Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s chief spokesman, expressed that it is hoping to portray the move as “a widening of the church’s mercy.” What do you think this policy shift will mean for the church and its relationship with the secular world?

Professor Bernadette J. Brooten (CLAS, NEJS, REL)

Pope Francis shows what the papacy can be: a voice for ethics that transcends religious boundaries, a voice for the poor and marginalized. This small opening in the Vatican’s abortion policy departs from past rigidity. Already in 2013, he argued against an obsession with abortion, same-sex marriage and birth control, stressing that the Church should put love before dogma. The future will tell whether or not Pope Francis will work with others to rethink the Vatican’s strict prohibition of all abortions, even in cases of the rape of minors or adults or endangerment of the woman’s life. Mercy toward rape survivors and toward women whose pregnancy jeopardizes their life will likely only come about when Catholic women are at the table as full participants. And yet Pope Francis, open on so many issues, has indicated that the exclusion of women from the priesthood, and thereby from the office of bishop, is not up for discussion

.Professor Bernadette J. Brooten (CLAS, NEJS, REL) is a Myra and Robert Kraft and Jacob Hiatt Professor of Christian Studies.

Dr. Paula Doress-Worters (WSRC)

Pope Francis has been a progressive force for the Catholic Church, and his recent statement may comfort some women who look to the Church for moral guidance. Yet the limit of one year of forgiveness does not take into account the varied circumstances that lead women to choose abortion, sometimes more than once. What happens next year, and in the years following? Is this a one-time amnesty? In U.S., the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 established women’s right to control reproductive choices, including the right to choose abortion. Will Pope Francis’s “policy shift,” extending forgiveness for past abortions, once again stigmatize abortion as sinful, even in secular society, after decades of legalization and broad acceptance?

Dr. Doress-Worters (WSRC) is a scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center. She is a co-author of the feminist classic “Our Bodies, Ourselves.”

Mark Gimelstein ’17The Pope’s continued charm offensive towards the areligious, who tend to lean liberal both socially and economically, will have absolutely no positive effect on the way in which they view religion. Indeed, we are now years into Pope Francis’ very liberal tenure, and there is still a glaring lack of basic respect for or understanding of religion by secular liberals, at least in America. It manifests itself everywhere. One need not look far to see how Religious Freedom Restoration Acts are viewed by the modern liberal movement or how devout, religious people are shunned from society through character assassination and career destruction. Ask Mozilla’s Brendan Eich, who was fired from the company he helped create for choosing to support California’s Proposition 8. Ask bakery owners Aaron and Melissa Klein, who are being bullied and sued into bankruptcy by their own state of Oregon for simply stating that they would not participate in a same-sex wedding. Ask religious Americans at large, and they will tell you that the Pope’s quixotic attempts to appease the secular Left will not work at all.Mark Gimelstein ’17 is a columnist for the Justice. He is also the vice president of Brandeis Conservatives.

As a pro-choice woman, I am thrilled by the Pope’s recent announcement allowing forgiveness for women who have had abortions. While I am not Catholic, and the policy change does not affect me personally, I appreciate that women who follow the Pope’s ruling will not have to deal with the emotional trauma of being excommunicated from the Church after dealing with the already difficult decision to have an abortion. Not only will this help Catholics, but this will make the Church be viewed as more accepting and understanding in the eyes of the secular world, something the Church desperately needs in these ever-more-progressive times. But what happens after the “Year of Mercy” is over? Will the Church return to its unforgiving ways? My hope is that Pope Francis sees the positive impact this change has for the Church and makes this an official policy change without a time limit.

Dayla Romaner ’19 is a first-year.