''Reconciliatio et paenitentia'' ( en, Reconciliation and Penance, italics=yes) is an apostolic exhortation by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, delivered on 2 December 1984 in

Saint Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, which grew out of the Sixth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in 1983. The fourth of John Paul II's apostolic exhortations, it presents Jesus as the Reconciler of a shattered world.

Structure

John Paul II began the exhortation by recalling from the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

, the very words with which

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

began his preaching: "''Repent, and believe in the Gospel''". Building on that theme, the pope addressed "reconciliation and penance in the mission of the Church today". Continuing his teaching on the mystery of Redemption, the pope presented Jesus as the Reconciler of a shattered world and urged the Church and the world to rediscover the path of penance, the only path that can lead to full reconciliation.Pope John Paul II. ''The post-synodal apostolic exhortations of John Paul II'' (J. Michael Miller, ed.) Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 1998 pages 234-237 The exhortation has three parts, as well as an introduction and conclusions. The introduction discusses the modern world's divisions and difficulties. It stresses the inherent desire of humanity for reconciliation. The first chapter discusses the fact that the mission of the Church remains the conversion of hearts. The second part is titled: "The Love That is Greater than Sin" and singles out sin as the cause of the wounds that individuals inflict