Vatican City, Sep 16, 2016 / 12:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has confirmed that the impediments preventing one from being ordained – such as homicide, abortion, or attempted suicide – apply whether or not the man was Catholic at the time the act occurred.

As the law is written, a doubt existed that the “irregularities,” as they are called, applied only to those who were Catholic – and thus those who were under the law – at the time they were committed.