Reconciliatio et paenitentia (English: Reconciliation and Penance) is an apostolic exhortation by Pope John Paul II, delivered on 2 December 1984 in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, which grew out of the Sixth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in 1983.

[1] The fourth of John Paul II's apostolic exhortations, it presents Jesus as the Reconciler of a shattered world.

The third chapter discusses the means by which the Church fosters penance, reconciliation and healing, returning to the theme of Mark 1:15: "Repent, and believe in the Gospel".

The teachings on structural sin in this exhortation were also later discussed in the pope's 1987 encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis.

The pope used the parable of the prodigal son to explain the process of conversion and reconciliation, and that God the Father is "rich in mercy" and always ready to forgive.