Vatican City, Aug 22, 2016 / 11:36 am
Pope Francis commended the sacrament of confession as the prime means of encountering God's mercy in his message sent Monday to Italy's National Liturgical Week, which is being held in Gubbio.
In Confession "there is fulfilled the encounter with the re-creating mercy of God whence come new women and men who announce the good life of the Gospel by a life which is reconciled and reconciling," the Pope said in a message signed by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and sent Aug. 22 to Bishop Claudio Maniago of Castellaneta, president of Italy's Center for Liturgy.
The National Liturgical Week is focusing this year on "liturgy as a place of mercy."
Pope Francis noted that this theme "helps one perceive that all the liturgy is a place where mercy is encountered and welcomed in order to be given; a place where the great mystery of reconciliation is made present, announced, celebrated, and communicated."