The Chancellery Palace hosted two days of profound reflection on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. At the closing of the Fifth Formation Seminar organized by the Apostolic Penitentiary, its Regent, Archbishop Krzysztof Józef Nykiel, emphasized a distinction as clear as it is necessary in today’s spiritual landscape: confession should not be confused with psychotherapy, nor can Christian contrition be reduced to a mere psychological analysis or a paralyzing sense of guilt.

Faced with a sterile and self-referential guilt that often overwhelms a person and drags them into paralysis—or into frantic searches for mere emotional relief—the Polish prelate reminded us that the sacrament is, above all, “the beginning of a new creation wrought by the Holy Spirit.” Authentic contrition, he emphasized, does not spring from self-loathing or a cold list of faults, but from a gaze directed toward divine mercy. Human beings dare to acknowledge their fragility only because they know they are profoundly loved and welcomed beforehand.

In this spiritual journey, which the seminary has explored from biblical, existential, and pastoral perspectives, the confessor adopts a role far removed from judicial rigor. Far from acting as a “judge of the ruins,” the priest becomes a “servant of reconstruction” who accompanies the penitent from the recognition of their sin to the experience of forgiveness.

To ground this experience in daily life, the Regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary offered four practical guidelines aimed at transforming the sacrament into a school of prayer. First, he proposes always beginning with love, not with an internal tribunal; a good examination of conscience begins with contemplating mercy, not with hopeless self-criticism. Second, he urges us to call sin by its name, overcoming the trap of paralyzing guilt (“I am worthless”) in order to embrace the desire to return to the Father.

Furthermore, the pastoral proposal emphasizes that the sacrament does not end with final absolution, but must continue through acts of reparation toward one’s neighbor and the community, as Pope Francis reminds us in his encyclical Dilexit nos . Finally, it invites us to maintain a heart open to the Word of God, capable of letting go of judgment toward others and ready to begin each day anew with renewed trust.