CONFESSIONS ON GOOD FRIDAY / HOLY SATURDAY

Pope John Paul II hearing confessions

Many Catholics have heard that no sacraments at all are permitted during Good Friday and Holy Saturday.  The short answer to this comes from the 2002 English edition of the Sacramentary, based on the 2000 Latin Editio Typica Tertia, which, under the instructions for Good Friday, states :

"Hac et sequenti die, Ecclesia, ex antiquissima traditione, sacramenta, praeter Paenitentiae et Infirmorum Unctionis penitus non celebrat."

"Today and tomorrow, the Church, according to very ancient tradition, except for Penance and the Anointing of the Sick, does not celebrate at all the sacraments."

See also from the Congregation for Divine Worship, Protocol 690/03/L (April 9, 2003) stating that not only is it allowed but also LAUDABLE (praiseworthy) that confessions be heard on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and mentions that the late Pope John Paul II regularly heard confessions at St. Peter's every Good Friday.