Pope Francis Surprises Priest, Kneels Before Him And Confesses His Sins In St. Peter's Basilica

Pope Francis Confesses To A Surprised Priest
Pope Francis leads a mass at St Peter's basilica on March 28, 2014 at the Vatican. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)
Pope Francis leads a mass at St Peter's basilica on March 28, 2014 at the Vatican. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

(Reuters) - Pope Francis surprised his own master of ceremonies on Friday by confessing his sins to an ordinary priest in St. Peter's Basilica.

The pope was presiding at service intended to show the importance he attaches to the sacrament of reconciliation, commonly known as confession.

After reading a sermon, he was to have gone to an empty confessional booth to hear confessions from ordinary faithful as some 60 priests scattered around the huge church did the same.

His master of ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, pointed him toward the empty booth but the pope went straight to a another one, knelt before a surprised priest, and confessed to him for a few minutes.

He then went back to the empty one and heard the confessions of a number of faithful.

The pope goes to confession regularly but in private.

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