Posted on 11/15/2014 1:56:37 PM PST by NYer
VATICAN CITY — The secrecy of a confession is maintained so seriously and completely by the Catholic Church that a priest would be excommunicated for revealing the contents of a confession when ordered to testify by a court or even after the penitent dies, Vatican officials said.
“No confessor can be dispensed from it, even if he would want to reveal the contents of a confession in order to prevent a serious and imminent evil,” said Msgr. Krzysztof Nykiel, regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing with matters of conscience.
The penitentiary sponsored a conference at the Vatican Nov. 12-13 on “the confessional seal and pastoral privacy.”
According to the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, conference participants heard that since the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 spelled out the penalties in church law for violating the secret of the confessional, “the discipline of the church in this matter has remained substantially the same,” with the exception of additional protections.
One of those additions, the newspaper said, was a 1988 church law explicitly stating that using an “electronic apparatus” to record, broadcast or otherwise share the contents of a confession also is an excommunicable offense.
Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, told conference participants it is important “to remove any suspicion” that the church’s commitment to the confessional seal “is designed to cover intrigues, plots or mysteries as people sometimes naively believe or, more easily, are led to believe.”
The seal, he said, is intended to protect the most intimate part of the human person, “that is, to safeguard the presence of God within each man.” The effect of the secret, he said, is that it also protects a person’s reputation and right to privacy.
The confessional seal, Msgr. Nykiel said, “is binding not only on the confessor, but also on the interpreter, if present, and anyone who in any way, even casually, comes to know of the sins confessed.”
The church, he said, takes the seal so seriously that it forbids, on the pain of excommunication, a priest from testifying in court about what he heard in the confessional, “even if the penitent requests” he testify.
Not even the death of the penitent can absolve the confessor from the obligation to maintain the secret, Msgr. Nykiel said.
I think we all know that a “vow” to actively go out and commit a mortal sin is not valid. It would be like vowing to commit adulery.
Where is the proof that GOD FAILED to put into writing all that we need?
Oh, humans, BTW, you'll need to do this rosary thing, and you just GOTTA let mom help you out and; yes; that really IS my body you are munching...
Not even a priest can do that-— on his own. God forgives sins through the power of His Sacrament which He gave to His Church. As the words of the Sacrament say “May Almighty God absolve you...”
Interesting. The Greek verb St. John (Ch. 6) uses for “eating” the body of Jesus, in fact, is translated as “munch.”
Praying the Rosary is a traditional practice. The Catholic Church has never taught that it is part of divine revelation.
Asking Mary for her intercessory prayer is not obligatory. But where in the Scripture are we told that the moment people die, they cease to love us?
Nobody ever said that he did. But neither does the Scripture say that it contains everything that Jesus did or said. In fact, St. John says exactly the opposite.
So now, writing down historical events is objectionable?
Every year, I read about Protestants’ celebrating “Reformation Day,” but there’s nothing about “Reformation Day” in the Bible.
What is the connection between what I wrote, and that passage from Judges?
I KNEW IT !!!!! your famous list of naughty popes, how you resisted this long is amazing....just think, you found a handful of popes over 2,000 years who were real badasses so that undoubtedly in your mind discredits the entire Catholic Church....good luck with that....we have had more bad presidents than that in 200 years...given up un the U.S. yet???
That's interesting because I never heard of *Reformation Day* until this year on FR.
I don't know a single *Protestant* who *celebrates* it, much less even ever heard of it.
It’s a big deal around here in North Dakota. Maybe it’s mostly a Lutheran thing.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
9:1 All these things have I considered in my heart, that I might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and their works are in the hand of God: and yet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love, or hatred:
9:2 But all things are kept uncertain for the time to come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so also is the sinner: as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth.
9:3 This is a very great evil among all things that are done under the sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also the hearts of the children of men are filled with evil, and with contempt while they live, and afterwards they shall be brought down to hell.
9:4 There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a living dog is better than a dead lion.
9:5 For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, neither have they a reward any more: for the memory of them is forgotten.
9:6 Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy are all perished, neither have they any part in this world, and in the work that is done under the sun.
9:7 Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God.
9:8 At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil depart from thy head.
9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of thy unsteady life, which are given to thee under the sun, all the time of thy vanity: for this is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherewith thou labourest under the sun.
9:10 Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening.
Thank God for Jesus His Son, or else Eph 9:1-10 is indeed our fate, both here and hereafter.
On the basis of this passage, you therefore deny the resurrection of the dead, right?
And when will that resurrection happen Arthur? Your question was "But where in the Scripture are we told that the moment people die, they cease to love us?". I showed you where. Now you want to twist that into not believing in the coming resurrection?
Perhaps.
Never heard of it here in the People’s Republic of NY.
The passage you quoted said that the dead would NEVER AGAIN be alive.
++Every year, I read about Protestants’ celebrating “Reformation Day,” but there’s nothing about “Reformation Day” in the Bible.++
Things that aren’t in the Bible:
Pope
Assumption of Mary
Confession Booth
I can go on.
And where in the Bible is Reformation Day?
No, it didn't. Did you even read it? What is it with Catholics and misquoting scripture to suit their needs? Here's the pertinent part of the verse.
never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
Now if you you understood scripture you would understand that after they are resurrected it's God who is the light of the world not the sun.
Seriously Arthur. Catholics look really pathetic with their understanding of scripture. Following the teaching of the Catholic Church is not serving them well and will lead to dire consequences.
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