Vatican City, 4 March 2016 – "24 Hours for the Lord", an initiative of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, reaches its third edition this year. Today, Friday 4, and tomorrow, Saturday 5 March, churches in many dioceses throughout the world will remain open until the early hours of the morning for those who wish to pray, adore the Holy Sacrament, and confess. This year's theme, in harmony with the Jubilee, is "Merciful like the Father".

Pope Francis will open the "24 Hours for the Lord" this afternoon in St. Peter's Basilica with a penitential liturgy during which he will confess, and will confess various penitents. Then, from 9 p.m., it will be possible to confess and adore the Eucharist in the Roman churches dedicated to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Santa Maria in Trastevere, and the Holy Stigmata of St. Francis.

Tomorrow, the church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will remain open continuously, and priests will be present for confessions until 4 p.m. The closing ceremony of this third edition, to be presided at by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, will take place in the church of the Holy Spirit in Sassia, the shrine dedicated to Divine Mercy.