The desire for priests
"to be Apostles of Divine Mercy" guided by Mary was expressed in a
special prayer of Pope Benedict XVI during his pastoral visit to Fatima , Portugal in 2010 Fatima . There, he invoked the Blessed Virgin Mary as "Mother
of Mercy" and prayed:
Guided by you, we want to be
Apostles of Divine Mercy, glad to celebrate every day the Holy Sacrifice of the
Altar and to offer to those who request it the sacrament of Reconciliation.
The Holy Father continued...
'Even our shortcomings, our limitations, and our weaknesses must lead us back to the Heart of Jesus. Indeed, if it is true that sinners, in contemplating Him, must learn from Him the necessary "sorrow for sins" that leads them back to the Father, it is even more so for holy ministers. How can we forget, in this regard, that nothing makes the Church, the Body of Christ, suffer more than the sins of her pastors, especially the sins of those who are transformed into "a thief and a robber" of the sheep (Jn 10:1 ff.), or who deviate from the Church through their own private doctrines, or who ensnare the Church in sin and death? Dear priests, the call to conversion and recourse to Divine Mercy also applies to us, and we must humbly address a heartfelt and ceaseless invocation to the Heart of Jesus to keep us from the terrible risk of harming those whom we are bound to save.'
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