Pope Francis: The Heart of Repentance is God’s "infinite love," "boundless mercy"

Francis explained that the first pillar, or attitude, of repentance is characterized by the words “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee.” It is the recognition of our “wretchedness in the face of God’s infinite love,” which creates an “experience that moves our soul to ask him for forgiveness, confident in his fatherliness.” 

The pope noted that this “sense of sin is proportional precisely to the perception of God’s infinite love. The more we feel his tenderness, the more we desire to be in full communion with him and the more the ugliness of evil in our life becomes apparent to us.”

The Holy Father said this awareness, which can be thought of as “repentance” or “contrition,” is the catalyst for self-reflection and conversion, with the Holy Father noting: “Let us remember that God never tires of forgiving us, and on our part, let us never tire of asking for forgiveness.” 

Building upon the centrality of God’s love in the sacrament, the pope observed that for priests “it is beautiful to hear, on the lips of a penitent, the acknowledgment of both God’s infinite goodness and his primacy, in one’s own life, of love for him.”

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“To love ‘above all else,’” the pope continued, “means to place God at the center of everything, as the light on the path and the foundation for every order of values, entrusting everything to him. And this is a primacy that inspires every other love.” 

The pope united this reflection on God’s love and mercy with the third principle of resolve, which is a fundamental component that allows for attrition to transform into contrition. Reading from the Act of Contrition — “I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more” — the pope explained that these words express “an intention, not a promise.”

“None of us can promise to God to sin no more, and what is required to receive forgiveness is not a guarantee of impeccability but a current resolve, made with a righteous intention at the moment of confession,” the pope continued.

On Friday afternoon Pope Francis heard confessions at St. Pius V Parish in Rome, about two miles from the Vatican, a moment that opened the 11th edition of the Lenten initiative “24 hours for the Lord,” based on the theme “Walk in Newness of Life.”

This annual celebration, which the pope established in 2014, is promoted by the Dicastery for Evangelization and is held on the eve of the fourth Sunday in Lent, or Laetare Sunday. This year’s iteration is the second time the pope will preside over the event outside of the Vatican. In 2023, the pope visited the Roman parish of Santa Maria delle Grazie al Trionfale.