Pope tells priests hearing confessions is a 'privilege'

VATICAN (CNS) -- Priests must recognize that it is a privilege to administer the sacrament of reconciliation and grant absolution, Pope Francis wrote.

"Celebrating mercy, especially with Jubilee pilgrims, is a privilege: God has made us ministers of mercy by his grace, a gift we welcome because we were, and are, the first objects of his forgiveness," the pope wrote in the message dated and released March 27.

Pope Francis, who is convalescing after more than a month in the hospital, sent his brief message to seminarians and priests participating in a Vatican course on the sacrament of confession and on matters of conscience.

The pope usually would meet with participants in the annual course offered by the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court focused on the forgiveness of sins, the lifting of censures for those who repent of their wrongdoing and indulgences.

In his message, Pope Francis asked the priests and seminarians to be "men of prayer" because that is the basis for their ministry, "by which you prolong the work of Jesus, who still and always repeats, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.'"

"May this liberating word of the Lord echo throughout the church in the Jubilee Year for the renewal of hearts, which flows from reconciliation with God and opens one to new fraternal relationships," the pope wrote.

The peace that the world desires, he said, also "springs from mercy, like the hope that does not disappoint."

Thanking the priests for their "indispensable sacramental ministry," Pope Francis offered his blessing and said, "I ask you to please pray for me."