Is the Pope changing the rules?

     In the last few days, the media has jumped on a new comment from Pope Francis.  As usual, the coverage seems to promote that Catholicism is becoming more modern and inclusive.  While I agree that the pope has been less polarizing than previous pontiffs, nothing he has actually said reflects an upheaval of church teaching.  At the very least, he is simply trying not to push non-Catholics further away.  At the most, he is making a slight modification to ritual.  But it seems to me that he is clarifying church teaching with compassion and humility without really changing what it teaches at all.
     The most recent coverage stems from the pope issuing a decree that women who have procured an abortion may be forgiven if they show true contrition.  Let's take a look at what people assume this means.  First, some people think that the church may change its stance on abortion.  The Catechism would say otherwise:
                Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:
     You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.⁷⁵God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.
It's pretty clear that the church won't condone an abortion. Notice the word "unchangeable."  When an ecumenical council is held and the pope makes a declaration regarding faith or morals in union with the other bishops, that decision is unchangeable.  Abortion will always be a sin.  That can't change.  The pope "could" allow for the ordination of women.  He probably won't any time soon, but it will serve as an example for the types of church teaching that may change.
      The second thing I have heard passed around the digital world is that the church has never forgiven women who have sought forgiveness with a contrite heart.  Lets again look at the Catechism:
               Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,”⁷⁷ “by the very commission of the offense,”⁷⁸ and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.⁷⁹ The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.
This one, I will concede is less clear.  Some would have you believe that every woman who ever had an abortion was automatically excommunicated and doomed to hell despite true sorrow.  First lets deal with what excommunication entails:
               Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests authorized by them.⁶⁸ In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication.
Excommunication means a Catholic cannot receive the sacraments. It is not a decree of damnation.  Second, the penalty can be lifted.  The pope has always granted the ability to forgive these types of sins to "certain" bishops and priests.  This year he is extending that ability to "all" priests.  He has not introduced a radical change in dogma.  He has simply opened the arms of the Catholic church a little wider.
               Finally, some have simply undermined the church's teaching on the Sacrament of Reconciliation itself.  I will more than likely cover the basis for confession in a future post so I will simply address a specific comment I read.  To paraphrase, the writer said: "Glad to know the pope is willing to forgive people.  I'm pretty sure that's why Jesus died on the cross.  Why do I need the pope's permission?  Two reasons.  First, Christ gave his apostles the ability to bind and loose. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (MT 16:19)  The sins of those your forgive are forgiven. The sins of those you retain are retained." (JN :20:23)  Second, the Bible is filled with stories of Jesus forgiving people of sins.  The most famous is when Jesus said the one without sin could throw the first stone.  He clearly offers her forgiveness.  This power to forgive is what he passed on to his apostles.  His death on the cross opens up the gates of heaven to those who repent of their sin and put their faith in him.  But repentance is not a statement of sorrow.  It is more than that.  It is a turning from a sinful lifestyle.  It is a cessation of sin.  Jesus himself makes this clear.  Many people seem to forget the last thing he says to her: "Go and sin no more." (JN 8:11)