I have been a Catholic all my life, recently a non-Catholic friend of mine asked, who does the Pope confess to, as in the confessional, I didn't have an answer. Please inform me on who Pope John goes to for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Thank you and God Bless, Mary Sisson Palmdale, California

-- Mary Sisson (rmsisson@aol.com), August 21, 2001

Answers

Jmj

Hi, Mary.
I found an interesting illustrated article and interview of Pope John Paul II's former personal secretary (1988-1996), a Vietnamese priest, Monsignor Vincent Tran Ngoc Thu. In April of 1998, he said this:
"Yes, the Pope confesses every week. The Pope's confessor is an elderly Polish monsignor who comes on Saturdays, or if the Pope is abroad, the following Friday."

You can read the whole page here.

St. James, pray for us.
God bless you.
John


-- (jgecik@amdg.ihs), August 21, 2001.

I am sure the pope goes to confession, the sacrement of reconcile is so wonderful and the graces you receive when you go

-- Joanne perrett (perrett3@bigpond.com), August 25, 2001.

Friends,
Our Dear Holy Father is confessed and absolved as any other poor sinner. I'm sure he accuses himself of sin with no concern for his office or his vocation. Jesus Christ Our Lord is merciful to everyone, and that includes the Pope. We mustn't make the mistake of expecting even a saintly Pope to be sinless.

I bring it up because in a recent thread, the author digressed on the subject of ''evil'' men who had been elected to the Papacy. Public sinners indeed have occupied the Chair of Peter in past ages. It isn't an empty charge.

But here is one thing the ''devil's advocates'' might not realise at all. Even a ''bad'' Pope in the decline of his years, and particularly in his last hours, can receive self-knowledge and the true spirit of repentence by God's grace and mercy. Is it too much to expect that an unworthy Pope may still die in a state of grace?

Many careless observers of the history of the Catholic Church look back with shame and disgust at a small number of sinful Popes; and would like to wash their hands of these men. Maybe forgetting that we are all sinners. All the Popes have had a confessor brought to them as they approached their final days. Our hopes must always be that they received God's mercy through Jesus Christ Our Saviour.

Saint Peter is seen in the gospel narrative refusing to acknowledge Jesus; and denying Him three times as the cock crowed. In his sin, he went out, to weep bitter tears over his own failure. But Jesus returned to him later on, and forgave him without a word of accusation. Our Pope is no different from Peter. He has the benefit of more hindsight, probably. But he relies just as much on the Divine Mercy.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), August 25, 2001.

Hello, Marylu.

I told you two weeks ago that I would find a "old thread" for you about the Holy Father. If you read John G's post on 8/21/01 this is what I was looking for you. Click on the link to read it.

God bless you.

David

-- David (David@excite.com), June 29, 2002.

Thank you, David. I will do that. You are so dependable! :)

MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), June 30, 2002.

David,

I just went to the site about the Pope and his daily routine, including his confession. It was very moving reading about this holy man.

Thanks, David. MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), June 30, 2002.

Thanks, David-Excite. You're the greatest! JFG

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 30, 2002.