Penance at the centre of the Jubilee

An area dedicated exclusively to meeting and to Confession – the central Sacrament in the walk towards the conversion indicated by the Jubilee – was inaugurated on January 28, within the Charles the Magnificent Arm, the monumental hall that connects the colonnade of the Basilica of Saint Peter’s to the Atrium. Along with Cardinal Virgilio Noe, High Priest of the Patriarcate of the Vatican Basilica, other prelates who were on hand included Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, President of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, Archbishop Giovanni Battista RE, Deputy Secretary of State, Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, Secretary of the Central Committee, and Bishop Luigi De Magistris, Regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary. “The culmination of the Jubilee is the encounter with God, the Father, through Christ, the Savior, present in His Church, and in a special way in the Sacraments (...) The entire Jubilee path, beginning with the pilgrimage, has as its point of departure and of arrival the celebration of the sacrament of penance and that of the Eucharist, Easter mystery of Christ, our peace and our reconciliation:” from this message by the Holy Father -- expressed in the Papal Bull Incarnationis Mysterium -- the necessity was born to offer pilgrims throughout the Holy Year a silent place where they can gather to pray to prepare Confession as an “encounter” with the merciful Father. The entire environment, simple and austere expresses the climate of a place which is dedicated solely to prayer. Two lines of confessionals line the walls of the monumental corridor which leads up to the Basilica. Here, in various languages, the priests of the Roman Curia will administer the Sacrament, after having volunteered to join the Penitentiary of Saint Peter’s. In the center are numerous benches for prayer, which face the front of the corridor, from which dominates the gigantic image of the Holy Door, which displays the Crucifix with the “Good thief.” Around the image, almost like a crown, are the 14 paintings of the Via Crucis. The pilgrims will also be able to make use of several texts and teaching aids – in various languages – that help to fully celebrate the Sacrament of reconciliation by following the path which begins with hearing the voice of God and moves on to the examination of conscience, repentance and the confession of sins to a priest, the feeling of satisfaction, the invocation of divine mercy reached through absolution, praise for the forgiveness received and life that has been renewed.