More than 1,000 'missionaries of mercy'

(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 29 - There will be more than 1,000 'missionaries of mercy' instead of the planned 800 due to overwhelming demand, Holy Year coordinator Monsignor Rino Fisichella said Friday.
    The missionaries, who will now number 1,071, will be sent by the Pope to dioceses across the world to hear the testimony of people who are seeking forgiveness. They will all be priests and will have the power to absolve sins.
    "Initially the idea was to involve retired bishops," said Fisichella. "But then we were overwhelmed with requests from priests, and the decision was made to favour the latter, otherwise we would have had to exclude some of them. "And since the Pope wants priests to once again be present for confessions, this justifies the decision to choose them".