Pope Francis has repeatedly warned priests not to turn off potential believers by being boring, inaccessible or overly intrusive, and on Tuesday he told the missionaries they should take a "maternal" approach to sinners.
Dubbed 'super confessors', for one year only they can absolve sins usually only pardoned by the pope himself.
And on Wednesday over 1,000 of these "missionaries of mercy", handpicked by Pope Francis, were sent forth to win back the hearts of those who have left the Catholic Church and open the door to repentant sinners across the world.
There are certain evils the Vatican ranks above other sins, from attempting to assassinate the pope to defiling the Eucharist -- the rite of consuming consecrated bread and wine in Church -- by spitting it out or using it in a Satanic ritual.
Since the 12th century, those guilty of these so-called "reserved sins" had their cases evaluated by a secret tribunal in the tiny Vatican city state before they were sent before the pope, who would determine an appropriate penance. Now, 1,142 priests and monks from around the world have be given the power, for the Vatican's Jubilee Year, to forgive sinners in their flocks -- and possibly fellow priests as one of the special sins is breaking the seal of confession.
Maltese Franciscan Marcello Ghirlando, 53, told AFP he thought giving the 'super confessors' authority usually reserved for the man in white was "a symbolic gesture" to show people the Church is ready to wipe slates clean.
"I think the pope wants to insist that 'listen, God is always going to forgive us if we turn to him with a clean heart, with a repentant heart'," he said with a grin, adding that he was relishing the challenge of bringing people back to church.
Pope Francis has repeatedly warned priests not to turn off potential believers by being boring, inaccessible or overly intrusive, and on Tuesday he told the missionaries they should take a "maternal" approach to sinners.
"Remember, you are not dealing with sin but a repentant sinner, a sinner who wants to change but can't," he said, telling them to "cover the sinner with a blanket of mercy, so that he is no longer ashamed and can rediscover joy."
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