Pope tells young people penance is sacrament of God's mercy, love

Published: 2007-03-29

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The sacrament of penance is the sacrament of God's mercy and an outpouring of God's healing love, Pope Benedict XVI told young people from Rome. "With this sacrament's penitential cleansing, we are readmitted into full communion with God and with the church," the pope told the young people attending a March 29 penance service. The evening prayer service was held in a packed St. Peter's Basilica where Pope Benedict and some 200 priests heard individual confessions and offered absolution. So many young people requested the free tickets to the liturgy that hundreds of them had to watch on television screens in the Vatican audience hall; they were joined by dozens of priests who ensured they, too, had an opportunity to receive the sacrament. In his homily, Pope Benedict said the service was "an encounter around the cross, a celebration of the mercy of God, which each of you can experience personally in the sacrament of confession." After the communal prayers, Pope Benedict removed his heavy purple cope and, dressed in an alb with a purple stole, went into a confessional where he spent 35 minutes hearing confessions behind a screen.

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