Are you intimidated by confession? Don’t be, Pope Francis says

February 27, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Vatican City, Feb 27, 2018 / 03:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During the penitential season of Lent, Pope Francis pointed to confession as the means to true conversion, saying the faithful should approach the sacrament with trust and confidence.

“The Lord says, ‘Come now, let us reason together, let’s talk for awhile.’ He doesn’t frighten us,” said Pope Francis during Mass on Feb. 27 at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.

“Let us thank the Lord for His goodness. He does not want to beat us and condemn us. He gave His life for us and this is His goodness,” the Holy Father continued, saying God is “always looking for a way to get to the heart.”

Pope Francis referenced the first reading during Mass from the book of Isaiah, which says, “Wash yourselves clean… cease doing evil; learn to do good…though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.”

While some people are intimidated by the sacrament of confession, Pope Francis said that the confessional is not threatening, but should welcome sinners to conversion. It is a sacrament that leads to “forgiveness, and a change of heart,” he said.

“He [Jesus] does not threaten” but instead prompts his children with “kindness, gentleness, giving us confidence,” Francis said.

The act of going to confession is like God inviting you to coffee, he continued.

“This is how the Lord calls us: ‘Come on, let’s have a coffee together. Let’s talk this over, let’s discuss it. Don’t be afraid.’”

The Pope encouraged priests, who act in the person of Christ in the confessional, to reflect God the Father’s mercy during confessions.

“When we priests, in the place of the Lord, have to hear confessions, we too should have this attitude of goodness,” he said.

In hearing confessions, priests should be welcoming and approachable, so as to “open the heart” and make the individual feel “at peace,” he said.

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St. Peter’s Basilica considers temperature checks when public Masses resume

May 14, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

CNA Staff, May 14, 2020 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- Papal basilicas are considering checking visitors’ temperatures as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus when public Masses resume, the Holy See press office said Thursday.

Representatives of the four major Roman basilicas — St. Peter’s, St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran and St. Paul Outside the Walls — met May 14 under the auspices of the Vatican Secretariat of State, the press office said.

They discussed which protocols to adopt in light of the “second phase” of Italy’s lockdown, when public liturgies will be permitted again from May 18 under strict conditions.

Churches in Italy will be required to limit the number of people present – ensuring a one-meter (three feet) distance – and congregants must wear face masks. The church must also be cleaned and disinfected between celebrations.

While St. Peter’s is situated in Vatican City, the three other major basilicas are located within Italy but have extraterritorial status under the terms of the Lateran Treaty of 1929, which means they are properties of the Holy See, itself a sovereign body in international law.

The press office statement said that officials talked about “the need to adopt the most appropriate measures to guarantee the safety of the faithful”, including taking the temperatures of visitors, at least during Sunday Masses and on other holy days of obligation.

Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni told CNA that each basilica would adopt measures that reflected their “specific characteristics.”

He said: “For St. Peter’s Basilica, in particular, the Vatican Gendarmerie will provide for access restrictions in close collaboration with the Inspectorate for Public Security and will facilitate safe entry with the assistance of volunteers from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.”

 

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