During the next two weeks the Gospel for each Lenten weekday Mass is from St. John. We shall read, day after day, about the growing hostility against Jesus that climaxed in the horror of Good Friday. The tragedy begins today on a happy note--a continuation of yesterday's Laetare Sunday spirit. --The Vatican II Weekday Missal

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God's forgiveness is the source of hope for the faithful, Pope Francis wrote.

"Indeed, with his mercy, God transforms us inwardly, he changes our heart," he said in a message to priests celebrating the Jubilee of the Missionaries of Mercy in Rome.

"We can always count on him in any situation. God made himself man to reveal to the world that he never abandons us," the pope's message said. 

The Vatican released the pope's message to the priests, which was read by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization's section for new evangelization and the chief organizer of the Holy Year 2025, during a March 29 meeting and training session.

The Jubilee celebration, March 28-30, had been scheduled to include a meeting with Pope Francis March 29 and Mass the next day. However, the pope was not present at those events since doctors recommended he rest for two months after returning to the Vatican from Gemelli hospital March 23 for double pneumonia.

Pope Francis instituted the "missionaries of mercy" apostolate in 2015 for the special mission of preaching about God's mercy and, especially, to encourage Catholics to rediscover the grace of the sacrament of reconciliation. More than 1,100 priests were chosen by the Vatican and commissioned during the Holy Year of Mercy, and today there are more than 1,200 missionaries of mercy on all five continents. 

In his message, dated March 19, the pope thanked the priests because they "bear witness to the paternal face of God, infinitely great in love, who calls everyone to conversion and renews us always with his forgiveness."

"Conversion and forgiveness are the two gentle touches with which the Lord dries every tear from our eyes; they are the hands with which the church embraces us sinners; they are the feet on which we walk in our earthly pilgrimage," the pope wrote.

Pope Francis encouraged the priests in their ministry as confessors to be "attentive in listening, ready to welcome and constant in accompanying those who wish to renew their own lives and return to the Lord." 

About 500 missionaries of mercy registered for the pilgrimage to Rome, which included a penitential liturgy at the Rome Basilica of Sant'Andrea della Valle March 28 and a Mass celebrated there by Archbishop Fisichella on Sunday. 

Msgr. Graham Bell, undersecretary of the dicastery's section for new evangelization, led the liturgy March 28, which was part of the worldwide Lenten prayer and penance initiative, "24 Hours for the Lord." Begun by the pope in 2014, it invites at least one Catholic church in every diocese to be open all night -- or at least for extended hours -- for Eucharistic adoration and confession.

In addition to the few wooden confessionals in the 17th-century basilica, more than a dozen areas in different corners and pews were available for confession in several languages. Priests took turns hearing each other's confessions before dedicating themselves to hearing confessions from other penitents or to silent prayer.

Among the hundreds attending were some missionaries of mercy from the United States who spoke with Catholic News Service March 28.

Father Eloy Rojas, originally from Venezuela, is a hospital chaplain in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, where, he said, he brings "hope and love to the sick and dying," especially those nearing the end of their life on earth. 

As a missionary of mercy, he is also bringing hope to those seeking "new life" through confession by communicating and connecting with penitents "with empathy, love and compassion," he said.

Father Bernard Olszewski said their role is to be mediators between the penitent and the merciful face of God.

Instead of a "duel," he said, that encounter must be "like a duet, a dance that is learned." They help others "learn the steps, to dance with God, and to rediscover that relationship with God which may have been lost."

Their mission is to reassure the repentant that they can leave the confessional "a new person," transformed with the capacity to do good, to be better and to be the person God calls them to be," he said. "There is nothing more powerful than that."

While the pope granted the missionaries the faculties to forgive certain sins in cases otherwise reserved to the Holy See, the priest said, "we're not super confessors." 

They were commissioned "to exemplify that loving attitude, that warm embrace that God offers to us each and every day, but some of us don't have the opportunity to recognize or to accept it," he said.

Pope Francis "wants no obstacle between the penitent and the forgiveness," Father Olszewski said, because very often it is those grave sins that maintain "that wall, which do not allow the penitents to access immediately and definitively the forgiveness of God."

Msgr. Ted Bertagni said God's mercy is the path to hope. "You only have hope if you can experience that mercy."

When someone "comes to reconciliation, they want to be renewed, they want to be restored, they want to get back into the grace with God" to "build up their faith again," he said. This is why confession is "a very uplifting thing for the priest as well as for the penitents."

"I think people don't go to reconciliation that often simply because … they're afraid that they'll be judged," Msgr. Bertagni said.

When the faithful come for reconciliation, he said, the priest is "there to be open arms," to unconditionally love them "as the father unconditionally loves and forgives you."

Today is the halfway mark of the Sundays of Lent; Easter is enticingly near. This Sunday is known as Laetare Sunday for the first word of the Introit or Entrance Antiphon, Laetare (rejoice); it is a Sunday of joy, our foretaste of Easter joy. The celebrant has the option to wear rose-colored vestments. This is also the Second Scrutiny in preparation for the baptism of adults at the Easter Vigil.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Home from the hospital after more than five weeks, Pope Francis is showing "slight improvements" in his breathing, ability to speak and mobility, the Vatican press office said.

The 88-year-old pope, released from Rome's Gemelli hospital March 23, is following doctors' orders and is focused on his recovery, the press office told reporters March 28.

His days are devoted to prayer, breathing exercises, physical therapy, rest and handling paperwork sent from Vatican offices to his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Each morning, he concelebrates Mass in the small chapel down the hall from his bedroom and private office, the press office said. 

Pope Francis has not received any visitors, it said. He spends each day with members of his medical team -- one of whom is on duty 24 hours a day -- and with his private secretaries.

The pope was praying March 28 for victims of a massive earthquake that caused death and destruction in Myanmar and Thailand, the press office said.

In a telegram sent to civil and church authorities in the two countries, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said the pope was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and widespread devastation."

"Pope Francis offers heartfelt prayers for the souls of the deceased and the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all affected by this tragedy," the message said. The pope also prayed that emergency workers would be given "the divine gifts of fortitude and perseverance."

The pope was hospitalized Feb. 14-March 23 after a case of bronchitis worsened, making it difficult for him to breathe. He was diagnosed with multiple infections and then with double pneumonia, resulting in several life-threatening breathing crises.

The Vatican press office said that since the pope was released from the hospital, he has had a reduced need for supplemental oxygen and is using high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula during only part of the night.

The results of blood tests performed March 26 were within the normal range, the press office said. Before they discharged the pope, his doctors said he would continue drug therapy at home to deal with mycosis, a fungal infection, and the press office said he was continuing that medication.

Pope Francis watched the livestream March 28 of the Lenten meditation for cardinals and senior members of the Roman Curia offered by Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini, preacher of the papal household. 

While the Vatican published a schedule of major Holy Week and Easter liturgies March 27, the press office said it was too soon to know if the pope would be in attendance.

Polish President Andrzej Duda visited the Vatican March 28 and met with Cardinal Parolin. Among the gifts the Polish president brought was a rosary for Pope Francis.

Duda and his wife also were at the Vatican March 27, making a pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica for the Jubilee Year and praying at the tomb of St. John Paul II.

The Vatican press office announced March 28 that Cardinal Parolin would preside at a memorial Mass in St. Peter's Basilica April 2, the 20th anniversary of the death of the Polish pope.
 

Good Friday is three weeks away. The conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his time continues to intensify as the Third Week of Lent draws to an end. In today's gospel reading, one of the Temple scribes gives Jesus an orthodoxy check, asking him to name the greatest of the Commandments. The answer given (love of God and love of neighbor) suffices to end that line of theological attack on the unexpected Galilean preacher and miracle-worker: "And after that, no one dared to ask him any questions." But the conflict will grow sharper in the weeks ahead. --George Weigel, Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches