OWENSBORO, Ky. (OSV News) — A local pastor, Father José Carmelo Jiménez Salinas, was overjoyed when he was appointed to serve as a Missionary of Mercy by the Holy See earlier this year.

“I feel so blessed, not only for myself but also for all the faithful … to show others that the face of God is love and mercy,” said Father Jiménez, the pastor of St. Michael Parish in Sebree in the Diocese of Owensboro.

The late Pope Francis created the Missionaries of Mercy role in 2016 during the Jubilee of Mercy, which he continued and institutionalized in the 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia.

Missionaries of Mercy are priests given faculties to absolve penitents of certain sins which are otherwise reserved to the Holy Father to absolve, due to their seriousness. These include the profa

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