Pope Francis nominates 1,000 'super confessors'

By Pietro Lombardi, for CNN

Updated 2028 GMT (0428 HKT) February 12, 2016

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, left, reads aloud words engraved on a pen as he meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Friday, December 16, 2016. The words "The bullets have written our past, education will write our future" are engraved on the pen, made from a recycled bullet once used in the civil war between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The pen was later used to sign the peace agreements between the parties earlier this year. Santos, who was awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the region's longest-running conflict, presented Pope Francis with the pen.
Photos: Pope Francis
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, left, reads aloud words engraved on a pen as he meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Friday, December 16, 2016. The words "The bullets have written our past, education will write our future" are engraved on the pen, made from a recycled bullet once used in the civil war between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The pen was later used to sign the peace agreements between the parties earlier this year. Santos, who was awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the region's longest-running conflict, presented Pope Francis with the pen.
Hide Caption
1 of 44
Pope Francis accepts a letter from a child he visited at a pediatric hospital in Rome on Thursday, December 15, 2016.
Photos: Pope Francis
Pope Francis accepts a letter from a child he visited at a pediatric hospital in Rome on Thursday, December 15, 2016.
Hide Caption
2 of 44
Pope Francis poses with members of the International Catholic Rural Association at the Vatican on Saturday, December 10, 2016.
Photos: Pope Francis
Pope Francis poses with members of the International Catholic Rural Association at the Vatican on Saturday, December 10, 2016.
Hide Caption
3 of 44
Pope Francis salutes the faithful upon his arrival in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for the Special Jubilee Papal Audience on Saturday, October 22, 2016.
Photos: Pope Francis
Pope Francis salutes the faithful upon his arrival in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for the Special Jubilee Papal Audience on Saturday, October 22, 2016.
Hide Caption
4 of 44
Pope Francis looks on with joy as he releases a dove as a symbol of peace during a meeting with the Assyrian Chaldean community at the Catholic Chaldean Church of St. Simon Bar Sabbae in Tbilisi, Georgia, on September 30, 2016.
Photos: Pope Francis
Pope Francis looks on with joy as he releases a dove as a symbol of peace during a meeting with the Assyrian Chaldean community at the Catholic Chaldean Church of St. Simon Bar Sabbae in Tbilisi, Georgia, on September 30, 2016.
Hide Caption
5 of 44
Pope Francis passes the main entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former concentration camp in Poland, on Friday, July 29, 2016. The Pope <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/europe/poland-pope-auschwitz-visit/" target="_blank">was there to pay tribute</a> to those who died in the Holocaust.
Photos: Pope Francis
Pope Francis passes the main entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former concentration camp in Poland, on Friday, July 29, 2016. The Pope was there to pay tribute to those who died in the Holocaust.
Hide Caption
6 of 44