Pope Francis makes permanent priests' ability to pardon abortion

Pope Francis, making permanent a temporary measure put in place for the Vatican's jubilee year, declared Monday that all priests would have the right to forgive abortion. "I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion," the pope wrote in an apostolic letter marking the end of the "Year of Mercy", which wound up Sunday. The 79-year old Argentine said he had to "restate as firmly as I can that abortion i