Pope Francis will confess several faithful in a parish in Rome within the framework of the celebration of the 24 hours for the Lord, a Lenten initiative of prayer and reconciliation promoted by the Pontiff that is celebrated on the eve of the fourth Sunday of Lent.
This year it is the eleventh edition and the initiative aims to set up a time of preparation for Easter from Friday the 8th in the afternoon that continues throughout Saturday, 9 March, under the motto “Walk in a new life”, taken from chapter 6 of the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans.
In these 24 hours for the Lord, the extraordinary opening of churches is proposed to “offer the faithful the possibility of stopping at any time in worship and the opportunity to confess,” according to the Press Office of the Holy See, coinciding with The celebration of this day with the Year of Prayer before the Jubilee of 2025, will emphasize “experiencing the prayer of forgiveness.”
For the second consecutive year, Pope Francis will preside over the celebration of the 24 hours for the Lord in a parish in the city of Rome. On this occasion, the liturgy with the Holy Father will take place in the parish of Saint Pius V, during which the Pontiff will confess some penitents.
To prepare for this day, the Dicastery for Evangelization has published a pastoral guide with materials related to the sacrament of Confession and the development of the planned vigil.
To illustrate the path of conversion, it is proposed to know the testimony of Phan Thị Kim Phúc, a Vietnamese woman who was a victim of the war. Photographer Nick Ut took her to the hospital, seriously injured. There she underwent 17 operations over 14 months, since she had 30% of her body burned. The photograph of Kim naked, fleeing napalm, receives the Pulitzer Prize.
So far, the best-known story. Years later, Kim said that she would have preferred to die, so as not to carry so much hatred over the years. In 1982, she began to read the New Testament, which led her to reflect and to a Christian conversion, which gave her the strength to forgive and continue with her life, providing medical and psychological support to victims of war.
The subsidy published by the Dicastery for Evangelization also offers indications for examining conscience and individual confession before asking the question of what to do after confession, illustrated by the life of the Servant of God Giancarlo Rastelli.