A Marian image is seen April 10 as Pope Francis celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican with hundreds of priests who are missionaries of mercy. The pope has continued the mandate of the missionaries of mercy. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Repentant sinners need merciful confessors, not inquisitors, pope says

932 0

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Priests must give hope to men and women seeking forgiveness, encouraging them in their struggle away from the slippery slope of sin, Pope Francis said.

Being merciful in the confessional helps penitents return to God without fear, even if they repeatedly stumble or slip on a path that “is filled with stones and banana peels,” the pope told 550 priests he designated as “missionaries of mercy.”

“In short, mercy restores dignity,” the pope said April 10. “The penitent does not indulge in self-pity for the sin committed, and the priest does not blame him for the evil from which he repented. Rather, he encourages him to look to the future with new eyes, leading him to ‘springs of water.'”

The missionaries of mercy, religious-order and diocesan priests from around the world, were among more than 1,000 who received a special papal mandate to preach and teach about God’s mercy during the 2015-16 Holy Year of Mercy.

After listening to “many testimonies of conversion,” Pope Francis said he felt the need to prolong their mission.

“We must truly recognize that God’s mercy has no limits,” the pope said, “and with your ministry, you are a concrete sign that the church cannot, should not and does not want to create any barrier or difficulty that impedes access to the Father’s forgiveness.”

To be effective heralds of mercy, the pope continued, priests must recognize the merciful love they first received from God in their own lives.

Departing from his prepared remarks, Pope Francis said he often reflects on St. Paul’s words to the community of Ephesus in which he praises God for “having treated me with mercy.”

“This does so much good to me, it gives me courage,” the pope said. “That is to say, I feel the Father’s embrace, the Father’s caress. Repeating this, personally speaking, gives me so much strength because it is the truth. I, too, can say, ‘I have been treated with mercy.'”

Pope Francis also warned the priests to avoid acting in a way that instead of bringing penitent sinners closer, “pushes them away.” That can happen, he said, when, “by defending the integrity of the Gospel, they overlook the steps that a person is taking day by day” to move closer to God’s way.

“God’s grace isn’t nourished in this way,” he said. “To recognize the sinner’s repentance is the same as welcoming him with arms wide open, to imitate the father in the parable who welcomes his son when he returns home.”

Like the father of the prodigal son, who did not even let his son finish his apology when he returned, priests must not be inquisitors, concerning themselves with the gritty details which causes “shame to one who has already recognized his sin and knows he has made a mistake,” he said.

As missionaries of mercy, Pope Francis said, priests are called to be “interpreters and witnesses” of God’s mercy which “welcomes everyone and always without any distinction.”

“Mercy takes the hand and instills the certainty that the love with which God loves defeats every form of solitude and abandonment,” the pope said.

After his speech, Pope Francis celebrated Mass with the missionaries of mercy at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In his homily, the pope reminded them of their duty to serve individuals and communities and not be “fanatical priests” who carry out some extraordinary ministry.

“No,” he said. “Be normal priests: simple, meek, balanced yet able to let yourselves be constantly regenerated by the Spirit, docile to its strength, interiorly free — especially free from yourselves — so that you are moved by the ‘wind’ of the Spirit that blows where it wants.”

Related Post

Pope Francis gives the homily as he celebrates morning Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, at the Vatican Oct. 15, 2019. The pope, in his homily, said Christians must avoid hypocrisy by scrutinizing and acknowledging their own faults and sins. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Jesus does not tolerate hypocrisy, pope says

Posted by - October 20, 2019 0
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus enjoys unmasking hypocrisy, which is the work of the devil, Pope Francis said. Christians, in…
A sign at the "One Happy Family" center for refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos points to a small shack where people can repair bicycles or other items. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, visited the center and men working in the shack May 9, 2019. (CNS photo/Cindy Wooden)

Cardinal ‘Fix It’: Almoner’s job is to model direct charity

Posted by - May 19, 2019 0
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — During his visit to a center offering respite and food to refugees on the Greek island…