While some people feel ashamed of going to the Confession, it is through this sacrament that they experience God's immense mercy, Pope Francis said in his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter's Square on Sunday.
"There are people who are afraid of approaching Confession, forgetting that there, we do not encounter severe judgment, but the immensely merciful Father," the head of the Roman Catholic Church was quoted as saying by the Catholic News Agency.
"It is true that when we go to Confession, we feel a little shameful. This happens to all, to all of us, but we must remember that even this shame is a grace which prepares us for the embrace of the Father, who always forgives and always forgives everyone," Pope Francis said.
"[The Confession] is a powerful reminder to bring ourselves closer to the Lord in the Sacrament of Mercy, and to receive Communion," Pope Francis said.
The Pope also underlined the importance of finding lasting sustenance in Christ as the "Bread of Life" as he recounted the day's Gospel according to St. John, before praying the Angelus.
Pope Francis referred to the Gospel passage that occurred before the multiplication of loaves and fishes to feed the multitudes of people.
People went looking for Jesus not because they saw signs but because they were filled with the loaves of bread, said the pope, the Vatican Radio wrote.
The pontiff said those who followed Christ after receiving "material bread" "did not understand that this bread, broken for many, was an expression of the love of Jesus himself. They gave more value to that bread than to the giver."
To get over this "spiritual blindness," the pope said Christ asks people to discover and understand the one who provides the bread.
"God is the gift, and also the giver," he said.
Pope Francis said it is "from this bread, this act" that people discover God who gives the bread.
