Fervent and overexcited about the central part of confessional (9)
I believe the answer is:
messianic
'fervent' is the definition.
(both can mean zealous)
'overexcited about the central part of confessional' is the wordplay.
'overexcited' becomes 'manic'.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the central part of' indicates the central letters.
The centre of 'confessional' is 'essi'.
'manic' going around 'essi' is 'MESSIANIC'.
'and' is the link.
(Another definition for messianic that I've seen is " of expected champion".)
I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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