On March 20, during a meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the Holy Father “implored anew God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members” during the genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group in 1994. He asked that this recognition of the failings of that time “may promote, in hope and renewed trust, a future of peace, witnessing to the concrete possibility of living and working together once the dignity of the human person and the common good are put at the center.”

Three characteristics of a good confessor

In an address on March 17, Pope Francis said that a good confessor:

“Is a true friend of Jesus the Good Shepherd. Without this friendship, it will be difficult to develop that fatherliness so necessary in the ministry of reconciliation.”

“Does not act according to his own will and does not teach his own doctrine. He is called always to do the will of God alone, in full communion with the Church, of whom he is the minister, that is, a servant.”

Is called to evangelize. “Indeed, there is no evangelization more authentic than the encounter with the God of mercy, with the God Who is Mercy. Encountering mercy means encountering the true face of God, just as the Lord Jesus revealed him to us.”

@Pontifex

"The word of God helps us to open our eyes to welcome and love life, especially when it is weak and vulnerable." - March 15, 2017