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» 03/11/2010 15:08
VATICAN
Pope: crisis in Penance, the result of relativism, primarily challenges priests
Benedict XVI recalled the example of St. John Mary Vienney to urge priests to be , "a sign of God's presence” in every day life. There is a sort of vicious circle between the blurring of the experience of God and the loss of the sense of sin.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The "crisis" of the Sacrament of Penance " primarily challenges priests”. In this Year for Priests, Benedict XVI has urged them to "go back to the confessional, even as a place to "spend" more time “so the faithful may find mercy, counsel and comfort, to feel loved and understood by God and experience the presence of Divine Mercy". This was Pope Benedict’s call addressed today to all priests participants of the course on the internal forum, sponsored by the Apostolic Penitentiary.
Today's society, marked by hedonism and relativism, in some ways resembles the one in which Saint John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars lived, as an example of the life of the priest. But even if today there are no attempts to prevent the same exercise of the ministry than there were after the French Revolution, "we live - said the Pope - in a cultural context marked by a hedonistic and relativistic mentality, which seeks to remove God from the horizon of life, it does not favour the acquirement of a clear framework of values and does not help to discern good from evil and to develop a proper sense of sin. This situation – he added – makes the service of administrators of Divine Mercy even more urgent. We must not forget, in fact, that there is a sort of vicious circle between the blurring of the experience of God and the loss of the sense of sin".
from:
[asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-crisis-in-Penance,-the-result-of-relativism,-primarily-challenges-priests-17857.html](http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-crisis-in-Penance,-the-result-of-relativism,-primarily-challenges-priests-17857.html)