Benedict XVI on the Sacrament of Confession

In a posting I made yesterday, I stated how rare it was to find a mention of the subject of conversion—let alone an elaboration or a homily—from priests or Bishops in the Catholic Church in Canada. It is even rarer, in my experience at least, to find any mention of confession, otherwise officially known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Pope Benedict recently summed up the relationship between the two extremely well in a March 7 address on matters of conscience.

It must be a commitment of pastors and especially of confessors to highlight the close connection that exists between the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a life oriented decisively to conversion.

The entire address, entitled “Benedict XVI on the Sacrament of Confession” was published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano and is found online through Zenit News service. It’s shorter than you expect so why not take a moment to read it through.

Jesus said to the shepherds, “Feed my sheep.” Catholics need to be fed and deserve to be fed by their priests and Bishops.