The following is the Message of the Holy Father Francis to participants in the 35th Course on the internal Forum, organized by the Apostolic Penitentiary (24 to 28 March 2025):

Message of the Holy Father

Dear brothers!

I greet all of you who are participating in the 35th Course on the internal Forum, organized by the Apostolic Penitentiary, and I thank the Major Penitentiary, the Regent, the Prelates, the Officials and the staff of the Penitentiary, as well as the Colleges of the ordinary and extraordinary Penitentiaries of the Papal Basilicas. The course is taking place during Lent of the Holy Year 2025: a time of conversion, penance and welcoming God’s mercy.

Celebrating Mercy, especially with Jubilee pilgrims, is a privilege: God has made us ministers of Mercy by His grace, a gift we welcome because we were, and are, the first recipients of His forgiveness.

Dear brothers, I urge you to be men of prayer, because prayer is the soil for the roots of your ministerial action, by which you prolong the work of Jesus, who repeats, always and forever: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin any more” (Jn 8:11).

May this liberating word of the Lord echo throughout the Church, in the Jubilee Year, for the renewal of hearts, which flows from reconciliation with God and opens to new fraternal relationships. Peace, so greatly longed for, also springs from Mercy, like the hope that does not disappoint.

Thank you for your indispensable sacramental ministry! May Our Lady keep you in Christ’s love and patience. I bless you from my heart, and I ask you, please, to pray for me.

From the Vatican, 27 March 2025

FRANCIS