"Walking in darkness means being overly pleased with ourselves, believing that we do not need salvation. That is darkness! When we continue on this road of darkness, it is not easy to turn back. Therefore, John continues, because this way of thinking made him reflect: 'If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us'. Look to your sins, to our sins, we are all sinners, all of us ... This is the starting point. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful, He is so just He forgives us our sins, cleansing us from all unrighteousness…The Lord who is so good, so faithful, so just that He forgives. "

"When the Lord forgives us, He does justice" - continued the Pope - first to himself, "because He came to save and forgive", welcoming us with the tenderness of a Father for his children: "The Lord is tender towards those who fear, to those who come to Him "and with tenderness," He always understand us”. He wants to gift us the peace that only He gives. " "This is what happens in the Sacrament of Reconciliation" even though "many times we think that going to confession is like going to the dry cleaner" to clean the dirt from our clothes:


"But Jesus in the confessional is not a dry cleaner: it is an encounter with Jesus, but with this Jesus who waits for us, who waits for us just as we are. “But, Lord, look ... this is how I am”, we are often ashamed to tell the truth: 'I did this, I thought this'. But shame is a true Christian virtue, and even human ... the ability to be ashamed: I do not know if there is a similar saying in Italian, but in our country to those who are never ashamed are called “sin vergüenza’: this means ‘the unashamed ', because they are people who do not have the ability to be ashamed and to be ashamed is a virtue of the humble, of the man and the woman who are humble. "

Pope Francis continued: “ we must have trust, because when we sin we have an advocate with the Father, "Jesus Christ the righteous." And He "supports us before the Father" and defends us in front of our weaknesses. But you need to stand in front of the Lord "with our truth of sinners", "with confidence, even with joy, without masquerading... We must never masquerade before God." And shame is a virtue: "blessed shame." "This is the virtue that Jesus asks of us: humility and meekness".

"Humility and meekness are like the frame of a Christian life. A Christian must always be so, humble and meek. And Jesus waits for us to forgive us. We can ask Him a question: Is going to confession like to a torture session? No! It is going to praise God, because I, a sinner , have been saved by Him. And is He waiting for me to beat me? No, with tenderness to forgive me. And if tomorrow I do the same? Go again, and go and go and go .... He always waits for us. This tenderness of the Lord, this humility, this meekness .... "


Text from a page of the Vatican Radio website.

When I arrived in Rome this past July to continue my studies and formation for the Priesthood, I never imagined that my first year would entail so many historic events at the neighboring Vatican Hill.  This past Wednesday was without question, one of those memorable days.  I was blessed with the opportunity to be in St. Peter’s Square as the white smoke started to come out of the chimney over the Sistine Chapel.  The crowd itself was great witness to the life of the Church.  In the crowd there were many young people and many others from all over the world.  Some of the other seminarians from my college encountered people ranging from Protestants to atheists.  It is incredible to see how the Holy Spirit draws souls into the life of the Body of Christ.  When the new pope was named, I am sure that you readers back home knew more about what was going on than we did.  No one knew who it was or where he was from.  The scene of St. Peter’s façade, wet from the rain, aglow with the many lights, and a man in white, our Pope, standing in the center was incredible.  When he asked for a moment of silence for us to pray that God would bless him in his ministry to the Universal Church, not a sound was heard; a truly incredible feat for a crowd so large and diverse.  This Lent in the Eternal City has been a unique and historic time for our Holy Mother the Church.  May the Holy Spirit ever continue to guide the men that are placed as the shepherds of so many souls.  May our Mother Mary be with Pope Francis as he succeeds Pope Emeritus Benedict in the Petrine Office.  Viva il Papa!

In Christ,

            Seán McCann

By choosing the name of the founder of his community's traditional rivals, the 266th Roman pontiff – the first from the American continent, home to more than half of the 1.2 billion-member church – has signaled three things: his desire to be a force of unity in a polarized fold, a heart for the poor, and his intent to "repair God's house, which has fallen into ruin"... that is, to rebuild the church.

WE HAVE WHITE SMOKE!! HABEMUS PAPAM!!

Since there are two votes each morning and afternoon, Fr. Lombardi stated that the 'fumata' (smoke signalling the election or non-election of a pontiff) that is produced from the burning of the ballots from those two voting processes could be expected around 12:00pm, in the case of the morning, or 7:00pm, in the case of the evening, unless the first of the two votes produces an election. In such an instance, the “fumata” would obviously take place earlier.