The Catholic Church is 'forgiving sins' for people with the coronavirus?

public hermit said:

Okay, I thought you meant the RCC.

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The Anglican Ordinariate and Eastern Rite Churches are part of the Roman Catholic Church. And yes, even though the normative discipline is for priests to take a vow of celibacy, a man who already has a wife can become a priest in the Roman Catholic Church (but it certainly doesn't happen very often). Anyone who says otherwise quite simply doesn't know what he's talking about.

chilehed said:

It's a load of nonsense. There's no link to any decree, and there's no evidence of it anywhere else on the web.

AND it's not something a Pope would do anyway. He could have granted an indulgence for health care workers, but indulgences do NOT presume to forgive sins and I can't find any evidence that he did that either.

So this is either a case of some incompetent reporter not knowing what he's talking about, or just a flat-out hoax. Or both.

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Thanks for clearing that up. Good posting.

justme6272 said:

Articles are saying the Catholic Church is 'forgiving sins' for people with the coronavirus. Isn't it God that forgives sins, not any church? I don't know much about Catholics, so this is a surprise to me. I can't believe what I'm reading. Here's the link.

Church forgives sins of those stricken by virus

"A decree published by the Vatican also covers healthcare workers and those who pray for their wellbeing. Relatives who care for their sick family members may also be forgiven.

The conditions include the sick saying a certain number of prayers or following important celebrations from a distance.

Those who pray for the caregivers' wellbeing must also read the Bible "for at least half an hour"."

A conditional church forgiveness depending on a certain number of prayers? How many? How do they police how long someone read their Bible?

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which catholic church is forgiving sins for coronavirus - Google Search

I looked it up and it seems all news sites picked up the story, including credible ones.

From the story, this seems to be specific to the situation in Italy.

The passage they're applying is most likely:
James 5
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Michael Collum said:

I looked it up and it seems all news sites picked up the story, including credible ones.

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JacksBratt said:

Thanks for clearing that up. Good posting.

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NP. I did some digging at the Vatican website, turns out that he did grant a plenary indulgence and the news was incompetently reported. Here's a link to the document. The media are so badly in the habit of misreporting on Catholic news (any religious news at all, really) that I strongly recommend that you always verify what they say by going to the source.

chilehed said:

NP. I did some digging at the Vatican website, turns out that he did grant a plenary indulgence and the news was incompetently reported. Here's a link to the document. The media are so badly in the habit of misreporting on Catholic news (any religious news at all, really) that I strongly recommend that you always verify what they say by going to the source.

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It's obvious the secular media will misreport Catholic news, so gotta read between the lines. Thanks for the source, the catechism section quoted in the linked document I believe is related to the passage I posted earlier.

Michael Collum said:

It's obvious the secular media will misreport Catholic news, so gotta read between the lines. Thanks for the source, the catechism section quoted in the linked document I believe is related to the passage I posted earlier.

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Secular media misreports a lot of news.... Not just Catholic news.

JacksBratt said:

Secular media misreports a lot of news.... Not just Catholic news.

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I guess the bias is more obvious if the news outlet is from a different country.

chilehed said:

NP. I did some digging at the Vatican website, turns out that he did grant a plenary indulgence and the news was incompetently reported. Here's a link to the document. The media are so badly in the habit of misreporting on Catholic news (any religious news at all, really) that I strongly recommend that you always verify what they say by going to the source.

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I had to look up what an "indulgence" is....

I don't hold to that way of thinking. Plus, COVID19 is not caused by a sin, it's not a sin to have it.... we should just pray for health and strength for all.

Michael Collum said:

I guess the bias is more obvious if the news outlet is from a different country.

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We all see things differently when it involves issues close to our hearts. Fake news is everywhere.

JacksBratt said:

The way I saw this was that I can forgive someone for hurting me or an offense to me.... I cannot forgive someone for adultery, robbing a bank, cheating on income tax....etc. Also, what sin have people committed if they contract Covid19?

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Back to my statement, there is never too much forgiveness.
So why would you wish to ration it?

We cannot identify sin in others. Those other things are against local law.
And as the passages indicate, there is never too much forgiveness in the world.

Matthew 26:28
For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

James 5:15
And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Acts 13:38
Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

I get on some level the type of sin (not a list of offenses) that causes illness, though the illness is not a sin in and of itself.

I think the main issue is that the Catholic church tends to not explain such things in their own words, and assumes their authority must be obeyed by all. So it kind of fuels the fire of misunderstanding.

Not saying it's intentional, just how it tends to work out in general.

JacksBratt said:

I had to look up what an "indulgence" is....I don't hold to that way of thinking. Plus, COVID19 is not caused by a sin, it's not a sin to have it.... we should just pray for health and strength for all.

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Of course it's caused by sin. But man is unable to identify sin in others.

JacksBratt said:

COVID19 is not caused by a sin, it's not a sin to have it...

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Neither I nor the teaching of the RCC have said or implied otherwise.

Maria Billingsley said:

I believe celibacy for Priests is considered a doctrine.

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It's not. It's an administrative policy that was adopted for various reasons, but not as a matter of doctrine.

It could be revoked at any time if that was thought advisable; and there are married priests in the Catholic Church already, so right there you know that it cannot be a matter of doctrine.

JacksBratt said:

We all see things differently when it involves issues close to our hearts. Fake news is everywhere.

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Some bible translations are fake news. Just apply and behold the fruit.

justme6272 said:

Isn't it God that forgives sins,


not any church? I don't know much about Catholics, so this is a surprise to me. I can't believe what I'm reading. Here's the link.

Church forgives sins of those stricken by virus

"A decree published by the Vatican also covers healthcare workers and those who pray for their wellbeing. Relatives who care for their sick family members may also be forgiven.

The conditions include the sick saying a certain number of prayers or following important celebrations from a distance.

Those who pray for the caregivers' wellbeing must also read the Bible "for at least half an hour"."

A conditional church forgiveness depending on a certain number of prayers? How many? How do they police how long someone read their Bible?

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Yes, otherwise I would have my wife and the goats forgiving my sins each day.
Don't work that way.
M-Bob

Michael Collum said:

I think the main issue is that the Catholic church tends to not explain such things in their own words,...

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The Church always explains things in its own words, and the most important words have been well defined for centuries. The problem is that many people have no clue what the words mean, and they blame the Church for their own misunderstanding.

Michael Collum said:

...and assumes their authority must be obeyed by all.

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That's not so hard to understand. All of the subjects of a King are bound to obey his authority, whether they know it or not. I'm sure you'd agree that everyone in the world is obligated to obey what the Bible teaches.

Similarly, they're bound to obey the people He says they must obey, whether they recognize them as such or not.

So given that we Catholics believe that Christ gave teaching authority to his Church and said that all men are bound to submit to that authority, it makes sense that we should think that they really are.

But really, this is off-topic.

SkyWriting said:

Back to my statement, there is never too much forgiveness.
So why would you wish to ration it?

We cannot identify sin in others. Those other things are against local law.
And as the passages indicate, there is never too much forgiveness in the world.

Matthew 26:28
For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

James 5:15
And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Acts 13:38
Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

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My point was that, and I was not clear that's for sure, I can forgive someone for things but I cannot forgive them for their sin against God or the law of men.

So, if someone steals from me, I can forgive them. However, they would still have to go to jail and they would still have to repent to God.

I can only forgive that which was done to me... I cannot forgive people of their sins in such a way that they are not held accountable to God for them.

SkyWriting said:

Of course it's caused by sin. But man is unable to identify sin in others.

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I guess COVID19 was caused by the fall, which was a sin that caused the curse on the earth. COVID19 would not exist in God's perfect world.

However, people don't get COVID19 because they did some sin and are being punished by it.

Mountainmanbob said:

Yes, otherwise I would have my wife and the goats forgiving my sins each day.
Don't work that way.
M-Bob

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Good post