Confirmation is the ‘sacrament of witness,’ not the ‘sacrament of goodbye’

Oudtshoorn, 30 October 2024 – In our Diocese, again this year, many parishes have and will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation with their confirmandi and bishop Noel present. Many of the congregants will perhaps synically look at the confirmation candidates and wonder to themself when they will see those particular confirmandi again.

the sacrament of confirmation is not a “last rites” for the confirmation candidates, but rather is “the beginning of active participation in the Church.”

Pope Francis addressed thousands of international pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, urging them not to see the sacrament of confirmation as their “last rites” as Catholics, but rather as “the beginning of active participation in the Church.” Continuing his catechetical series on the Holy Spirit and the Church during his general audience, he emphasized that confirmation is a “gift of God” and a significant “milestone” that should not signal a departure from the Church. “People often call it the ‘sacrament of goodbye’ because once young people receive it, they often leave and return only for weddings,” he remarked.

The pope suggested that lay faithful who have personally encountered Christ and experienced the Holy Spirit could reignite their own faith by helping other Catholics better prepare for confirmation, which he described as the sacrament of the Holy Spirit “par excellence.” Reflecting on the confirmation accounts of the first Christians recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, Pope Francis explained that it is God who anoints believers. “He has put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts,” he said to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square.

“The Holy Spirit as the royal seal with which Christ marks his sheep forms the basis of the doctrine of the indelible character conferred by this rite. Confirmation is to all the faithful what Pentecost was for the entire Church. It strengthens the baptismal incorporation into Christ and the Church and the royal consecration to the prophetic, royal, and priestly mission,” he concluded.