Our first Pope denied Christ three times when Christ needed him most; Saint Paul persecuted Christians and had some put to death until he encountered the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Catholicism has always been all about redemption and amendment. Christ admonished Peter to forgive sinners seventy times seven. The history of Christianity is heavily laden with the tales of sinners who repented and embraced Christ, He who had constantly preached a message of repentance, forgiveness and love while He walked here on Earth.
That this message is ignored by many contemporary atheists and Leftists is no marvel and no accident. In the totalitarian empires of the last century forgiveness was a completely foreign concept and so it is becoming in our current sewer of a culture. A world without Christ is a bleak thing indeed.
Just FYI, Midwest Conservative Journal lives again: http://themcj.blogspot.com/?m=1
It’s all the worse, because they want abject apology– and then no forgiveness.
A theological point: to forgive is not to require that amends be made or punishment be leavened. We are forgiven after Confession, but there is still time to be done in Purgatory for sins.