A friendly and tasty annual reminder that there is a strong argument to be made that there is no required abstinence from meat this Friday for our American readers.
While always a topic of great discussion, it is widely known by those alive in the 1950s that Venerable Pope Pius XII granted Americans a dispensation from their Friday abstinence, so that they could enjoy turkey the Friday after Thanksgiving.
We say "enjoy" turkey (or any meat) because that is truly the only reason he would have granted it -- the arguments over refrigeration and whether meat would spoil don't hold water since wide-spread, in-home refrigeration (as well as cable TV) actually did exist in the 1950s.
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So eat your turkey this Friday and give great thanks to a merciful God for all that we have to be thankful for. And, while you're at it, thank and pray for Pope Venerable Pius XII before you dive into that turkey, that he may be canonized a saint soon.
[Note: if you're just too nervous to eat meat on Friday, keep in mind there is no longer any sin tied to eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent, per the '83 code -- you can substitute an act of penance. So if you're scrupulous, or want to do more than the minimum, eat your turkey and make an extra act of penance.]
