Dec 14, 2020 - 12:55 pm .- Catholic bishops in northeast Italy have said that the risk of illness amid the ongoing pandemic constitutes a grave necessity permitting priests to confer the Sacrament of Reconciliation under the “third form,” also called general absolution, before and during the Christmas season.
Mar 20, 2020 - 11:05 am .- Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, has said that the coronavirus pandemic may justify the use of general absolution, in extraordinary circumstances.
