Pope Benedict XVI has said the Year for Priests helped the Church to grow in gratitude for the gift of the priesthood despite the clerical abuse crisis.
During the three-day conference of clergy marking the end of the year in Rome, the Pope repeatedly called the priesthood a gift. Begging forgiveness from God for the "sins of priests", an allusion to the crisis which has rocked the Church this year, Pope Benedict stressed the importance of the priesthood, saying that this was a "summons to purification".
