‘Explosion’ of Confessions during Holy Year, says Nichols

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said that there has been an explosion in the number of Confessions heard in churches in England and Wales during the Jubilee Year of Mercy, writes Liz Dodd.

Speaking at a press conference in London last week Cardinal Nichols said that bishops across the country had reported a “remarkable uptake” in the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the Holy Year at their plenary meeting in Leeds this month.

He said that the uptake had been particularly “explosive” at Westminster Cathedral, adding that all of the priests who attended the service to mark the end of the Holy Year stayed behind to hear Confessions afterwards in response to demand. Volunteers aboard the Mercy Bus, a converted bus that toured Salford diocese, and where priests heard Confessions, handed out 10,000 Miraculous Medals during the year, and during Holy Week 20,000 Confessions were heard at Westminster Cathedral.

The cardinal praised good catechesis for helping people make their Confession.

Speaking about the confessional aspect of many reality television programmes, he said: “It’s not as if in our secular society the sense of sin has declined. But in television it can be an aspect of entertainment; in the Church it is a path to healing and restores peace.”

Elsewhere in the press conference the cardinal warned that Brexit would have implications for the poorest in society, whom he predicted would be worst affected by the rising cost of commodities and altered trading patterns.

“Our eyes are on those who are most vulnerable,” he said. “We know that will be those who have least resources at the present time.”