GENERAL AUDIENCE: THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE

VATICAN CITY, SEP 15, 1999 (VIS) - The sacrament of penance was the theme of John Paul II's catechesis during the general audience, held this morning in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 12,000 people.

The Pope explained that various motives oblige us to reflect upon this sacrament, especially "in the current social context, where the ethical view of human existence is often overshadowed. If many people have lost the dimension of good and evil, this is because they have lost the sense of God and interpret guilt only in psychological or sociological terms." On the other hand, pastoral guidance must highlight the "practice of penance throughout Christian life."

The call to "repent, and believe in the Gospel," with which Jesus starts His ministry, the Pope continued, "is a call to change modes of thought and behavior."

John Paul II invitated the faithful to make a careful study of "Ordo Paenitentiae" in order "to deepen, on the occasion of the Jubilee, the essential dimensions of this sacrament. It is upon its rediscovery that, to a large extent, the maturity of ecclesial life depends. In fact, the sacrament of Reconciliation is not concluded at the moment of celebration of the liturgy, rather it leads us to live a penitential attitude as a permanent dimension of Christian experience."

The Holy Father highlighted "the importance of the necessary pastoral guidance, in order to intensify the value of this sacrament in the people of God so that the announcement of reconciliation, the path to conversion and the very celebration of the sacrament may touch more deeply the hearts of the men and women of our time.

"In particular," the Pope concluded, "I would remind pastors that, to be good confessors, they themselves must be authentic penitents." He asked confessors not to "neglect their own process of perfection and aggiornamento, so that those human and spiritual qualities which are so necessary for the relation with (peoples') consciences is never missing."

Among his greetings at the end of the audience, the Holy Father addressed participants in the bioethical conference, "The Twilight of Life," promoted by the Pontifical Athenaeum "Regina Apostolorum." He said: "May this symposium spark a growing awareness in everyone's minds of the inalienable rights of the individual, and of the respect due to all human beings, in order that the 'twilight' of life be lived in dignity and love."

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