HOLY SEE : Pope to preside at penance service in St. Peter’s Basilica

Pope Francis will preside at a penance service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the evening of March 17.

The service will include the opportunity for individual confessions.

During his pontificate, Pope Francis has encouraged the “24 Hours for the Lord” initiative, in which dioceses designate churches where confessions are heard for an entire day around the Fourth Sunday of Lent. 

The penance service in St. Peter’s Basilica precedes the Third Sunday of Lent, perhaps because the following weekend, Pope Francis will make an apostolic journey to Milan.