Most Unusually, Pope Confesses in Public

At a service in St. Peter's Basilica yesterday, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of confession—and, in a rare move for a pope, made his own confession in public. As he was being shown to an empty booth to hear others confess, he instead headed to a booth already manned by a priest, apparently surprising his master of ceremonies. There, the pope knelt and and spent several minutes confessing, Reuters reports. Afterward, he took the empty booth and heard confession from the faithful for some 40 minutes, Catholic News Service notes. (More Pope Francis stories.)