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.
Mrs. Don-o and Bayard have posted excellent responses. To what they have said, I would add the following. Is the Catholic who confesses his sins to a priest any better off than the non-Catholic who confesses directly to God? Yes. First, he seeks forgiveness the way Christ intended. Second, by confessing to a priest, the Catholic learns a lesson in humility, which is avoided when one confesses only through private prayer. Third, the Catholic receives sacramental graces the non-Catholic doesn’t get; through the sacrament of penance sins are forgiven and graces are obtained. Fourth, the Catholic is assured that his sins are forgiven (John 20:21–23); he does not have to rely on a subjective "feeling." Lastly, the Catholic can also obtain sound advice on avoiding sin in the future.
During his lifetime Christ sent out his followers to do his work. Just before he left this world, he gave the apostles special authority, commissioning them to make God’s forgiveness present to all people, and the whole Christian world accepted this, until just a few centuries ago. If there is an "invention" here, it is not the sacrament of penance, but the notion that the sacramental forgiveness of sins is not to be found in the Bible or in early Christian history.
Understood. I was just wondering about the concept of priests absolving sins. Could I absolve the sin of a neighbor who believes in Yeshua? I believe when we do sin its an unconscious thought or deed, like, not deliberately going to sin but just happens(?) We Jews believe that sin is in not doing something that exalts G-d when we could have .... in other words, would committing adultery exalt G-d? I don’t think so ....
Thank you.
The absolute giant leap that is made by the Roman Catholic Church is that THEY have the authority to do what is commanded in Matthew. They are co-opting the power of Christ’s blood to hold men hostage. It may surprise some Roman Catholics to learn that Christ’s words about “never knowing you” were not exclusively directed to those who don’t surrender to the Roman bishop.
And, I am not disputing whether or not we as believers should or should not confess sins to each other. Clearly, James 5:16 says as much. BUT, the difference is that we are confessing for edification, NOT to gain the official stamp of approval.
Besides, how many times have you heard a “good” Roman Catholic say, “it’s ok if I get drunk and screw around, I can go to confession.” Do Roman Catholics believe that there must be REAL repentance? That lies at the heart of my serious concerns about the Roman system; it seems to me that no one cares what you BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART about Christ Jesus, rather, as long as you do an item on a long checklist, you are good to go. Do you think God is honored by cold ritualistic activity? I don’t.
Would that also include the "confessioner" that Saka was taking confession from? Our prisons and death rows are filled with self professed "innocents".......in other words, liars.
It is a ministry directly connected to the Apostles and therefore passed on to their successors through the ages -— since the Church did not die out with the death of the last Apostle. Priests act on a delegated authority: a bishop can grant, or suspend, or terminate a priest’s “faculty” to be minister of this Sacrament.
No, not just anybody can absolve sins. In the Catholic Church, you have to be an ordained priest. Of course, if you wronged an individual, you should also seek their forgiveness and try to right the wrong or injustice committed against that person and seek their forgiveness to be truly absolved. For instance, if you’ve stolen money from someone, you should make restitution to that person.
As far as a person not consciously committing a sin, my husband and I used to do counseling of women contemplating abortions. There were those who would say that they knew it was wrong but that G-d would forgive them.
Even at the cost of the mental anguish of a tortured product of a pedophile priest, bishop or cardinal and the death of an individual for a crime he didn't commit...
So what???
Jas_4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
All the more reason not to be a Catholic...We have the words that God spoke to us...He freed us from the chains of Catholic bondage...
It is interesting to not that you lack the honesty to address the situation Sakajaweau presented.
Someone comes to her and confesses to a crime another person is scheduled to die for. You twist that and make her a death row priest hearing confessions from people already serving time.
By changing the situation she presented you are lying. You make the confessor she received less likely to have been forthright. The perfidy is not unnoticed.
All that aside, in her scenario the confessor is dead. That person is either with God, or in hell. Nothing she says now will change that in any way. They aren’t here. It doesn’t matter to them now, their deeds are finished.
The 'seal of the confessional' is a man made law...If you admit to a priest that you killed a man and some innocent person is in jail awaiting the death penalty for that crime, it would be impossible for God to honor a vow of anyone including a priest by allowing the innocent man to die...
How would the priest know who the guy was who made the confession?
How would the priest know who the guy was who made the confession?
No, you are the one who is doing the twisting. I'm simply saying that she, the confessional priest, is violating her oath of confidentiality or whatever it is, and can no longer be trusted. In exchange for what? A confession by someone who could very well be lying?
Well that's the fallacy...For the reality, the truth, go to the scriptures...
We don't need an unbiblical priest to forgive or absolve our sins...Christians and non Christians alike go straight to the throne of God...
Heb_4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Come unto a priest??? How absurd...
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I am 75 and I have never heard a "good" Catholic say that....nor would anyone who said that be a good Catholic. The most important factor in absolution through the Sacrament of penance or reconciliation as it is now called, is total and sincere repentance and a firm, honest intention to not repeat the offense....anything else is just a mechanical meaningless ritual....
If we were really honest we would say that the protestant position is to hypocritically use the law of exception (i.e., the law of love) found in situational ethics to reject an intrinsic and normative good that is the relieving of one's sinful burden and bringing them back into fellowship with Christ.
In other words, "Jesus for me but not for thee."
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