Last summer, I saw a notice in the Catholic press about Pope Francis’s desire to commission priests, possessing the approval of their bishop or superior, from dioceses and institutes as “Missionaries of Mercy” who would become visible signs and instruments of the Holy Year of Mercy.
When I asked my bishop what he thought, he gave his endorsement to my application to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation, the Vatican dicastery assigned by the Holy Father to prepare for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. A few months later I heard from Archbishop Fisichella that I had been chosen.
