Sligo, Ireland, May 29, 2018 / 14:15 pm
As the Republic of Ireland moved to legalize abortion over the weekend, one bishop has said that practicing Catholics who voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment should consider going to confession.
If a Catholic "voted Yes, knowing and intending that abortion would be the outcome, then you should consider coming to confession, where you would be received with the same compassion that is shown to any other penitent," Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin during a May 28 interview on RTÉ's Today.
Bishop Doran went on to say that voting "yes" in the Eighth Amendment referendum with full knowledge of legalizing abortion was "a sin," and that Catholics could not take a casual approach to an issue with such moral gravity.
"Ultimately all sin, and sin is not just related to this area, but all sin is about decisions that impact on our relationship with God," he noted.