I am a sinner-Pope Francis Confesses

Pope Francis describes himself as “a sinner” in need of God’s mercy, in an upcoming book where he also urges the Catholic Church to focus on its mission as a grass-roots, hands-on organisation, the AFP reported.

The first book of his papacy, “The Name of God is Mercy,” published on Tuesday in 86 countries, comprises a series of interviews, some of them highly personal, with the 79-year-old Argentine-born pope.

In extracts from the French-language edition provided to AFP by the French publisher Laffont, the pope calls himself “a man who is in need of God’s mercy.”

Expounding on the notion of forgiveness, the pope – a frequent visitor to prisons – refers to his “special relationship” with convicts.

“I have always been very much attached to them, precisely because of the awareness that I have of being a sinner,” Francis says, according to AFP’s translation of the extracts.