“I am nothing but an instrument in God’s hands, a channel to show the world His mercy,” Fr Jyoti Francis Costa, tells Asia News. We met the assistant to the general secretary of the Bengali Episcopal Conference (Cbcb) in Rome, where he participated in the meeting convoked by Pope Francis with the Missionaries of Mercy. The Pope created this body of priests during the Extraordinary Jubilee of 2016 to “absolve even the most serious sins.” Fr Costa is one of the two missionaries chosen for Bangladesh.
Reflecting on his delicate assignment he states: “I am superior to none. I am there to listen, console the anxieties, welcome the faithful who want to be reconciled with God. I have no merit, it is the love of God that converts hearts.”
The priest is incardinated in the archdiocese of Dhaka, but thanks to the assignment he has been able to visit “parishes, dioceses and pilgrimage centres. Here the local Churches have organized masses, meetings, seminars and retreats.” In particular, he recounts, “I went on several occasions to the dioceses of Barisal [in the south of the country,] and Sylhet [to the east]. Some meetings have been dedicated to religious and consecrated persons, others to all the local faithful and neighboring parishes.”
With the papal mandate, since 2016 he has been able “to preach to thousands of people the teachings of the Gospel and the mercy of the Lord. Moreover, thanks to the special faculties granted us by the Pope, I have been able to confess to many faithful and absolve the sins reserved for the Apostolic See. I have listened to many personal stories and experiences.”
