VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI tells participants at a course promoted by Apostolic Penitentiary: “the task of the priest and the confessor is principally this: to lead every man and woman to experience the personal love Christ has for them, to meet Him on the path of life as Paul met Him on the road to Damascus”

Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Today’s meeting offers us the opportunity to reflect together on the importance also in the present day of the sacrament of Penance and the necessity for priests to prepare as they promise to the Bishop on the day of the Ordination to the priesthood to administer it with devotion and fidelity for God’s glory and the sanctification of the Christian people”. With these words the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI addressed participants at course promoted by Apostolic Penitentiary, whom he received in a special audience at the end of the morning on 16 March.
“Through the sacramental acts and words, priests render most of all visible God’s love fully revealed in Christ - the Pope continued -… What happens in this sacrament is therefore first of all a mystery of love, the work of the loving mercy of the Lord… in order to be really at peace with God, with ourselves and with our neighbour we all need to draw from the inextinguishable font of divine love, shown to us totally in the mystery of the Cross. Only from this spiritual source can we draw the inner strength indispensable for overcoming evil and sin in the never-ending struggle which marks our earthly pilgrimage towards our heavenly homeland.”
The Pope then recalled how in today’s world the contradictions highlighted by the Second Vatican Council are still present: “we see humanity which desires to be self-sufficient, where no few think they can do without God and live well; yet how many appear sadly condemned to face dramatic situations of existential emptiness, how much violence continues to exist on the earth, how much solitude weighs on the human soul in this era of communication! In a word, it would appear that the "sense of sin" has been lost, while on the other hand "guilt complexes" are ever more numerous. Who can free the human heart from this yoke of death but the One who by dying defeated the powers of evil once and for all with the omnipotence of divine love?”
The priest in the sacrament of Confession is a channel of God’s loving mercy and his principal task is to “to lead every man and woman to experience the personal love Christ has for them, to meet Him on the path of life as Paul met Him on the road to Damascus”. To fulfil this important mission and reach the set goal, a priest committed to the ministry of the sacrament of Penance must be filled with “continual tending towards holiness”, interiorly united with the Lord, faithful to the Magisterium of the Church with regard to moral doctrine, “conscious that the law of good and evil is determined by God not by situations”. The Pope concluded asking the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for and sustain the ministry of confessor priests and help every Christian community “to be ever more aware of the value and importance del sacrament of Penance for the spiritual growth of every believer”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 17/3/2007 - righe 34, parole 474)