kristen. during the year of mercy, pope francis gave the ability to forgive the sin of abortion which is considered a grave sin in the catholic church, and in some diocese, only the bishop could forgive that sin. that wasn't the practice in america. priests have long been able to forgive the sin of abortion and in the u.s., the practice won't change. it will, what it does around the world, extends the practice for everyone else especially in the diocese. but pope, mercy is at the heart of his ministry and he is showing the world that even on this sin, which he says is a grave sin, he's not changing his stance on abortion by any means. it's still the end of what he calls an innocent life, but what he's saying is there's no sin that can't be forgiven if you want to be forgiven and so it's up to us to extend god's mercy. >> it tells us a lot about this pope. what does it tell us about where the church is right now in the year 2016? >> i think what you see is pope francis has said he wanted to swing open the doors of the church, he said that the church should be a field hospital treating people when th