The Catholic Church is an institution that operates like a supertanker: It can only change its course slowly and gradually. However, Pope Francis is doing everything he can to make the church more welcoming, merciful and inclusive. Now he has said that the church will allow priests throughout the world to continue to grant absolution for abortion, making permanent a policy that the Pope announced a year ago. Priests may grant forgiveness for abortion, which the church considers a sin. While firmly restating his opposition to abortion as “a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life,” the pope affirmed that “there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father.”