February 26, 2011. Madrid's Retiro Park will host the “Festival of Forgiveness” during World Youth Day 2011. Hundreds of priests will be located in the park for young people to confess throughout the day. The event is organized to help bring this sacrament to those attending the event. The priests will be available to listen to confessions in all major languages. All the churches in Madrid will also be open for anyone who wants to make a confession.
Bishop Cesar Franco
General Coordinator, WYD Madrid 2011
“We want to show that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a joyous occasion, a beautiful thing that we will celebrate in the great park of El Retiro, in an area where the priests will be in confessional booths made 'ad hoc' for the event and where youth can receive forgiveness and the mercy of Christ.”
The Circus Maximus in Rome also hosted a similar event during World Youth Day 2000, in which more than 300 priests listened to the confessions from hundreds of thousands of young people.
CB
-
HC
-PR
