Profound need to learn penance again

Pope Benedict XVI in Portugal

The Holy Father was asked if it is possible to see in the Fatima message an allusion to the sufferings that the Church is going through today.

Benedict XVI replied that what can be discovered again today in Our Lady's message from Fatima is the "passion" that the Church is experiencing, and that "is reflected in the person of the Pope."

"The attacks on the Pope and the Church do not just come from outside, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from the sin that is in the Church. This has always been known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way: The greatest persecution of the Church does not come from external enemies, but is born from the sin in the Church.

"And the Church, therefore, has the profound need to learn penance again, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness, as well as the need for justice. Forgiveness does not replace justice."

Pilgrims walking on their knees in penance.

A penitential pilgrim at Fatima crawling along Lucy's Mile.

"And the Church, therefore,
has the profound need to learn penance again,
to accept purification,
to learn on one hand forgiveness,
as well as the need for justice.
Forgiveness does not replace justice."

-Pope Benedict XVI
Fatima,
11 May 2010