By DON FIER
Only bishops and priests, as we saw last week, are valid ministers of the Sacrament of Penance. Just as Christ works through His ordained ministers in the Eucharist to transform bread and wine into His Body and Blood, so too He works through bishops and priests to forgive the sins of repentant sinners.
The Vicar of Christ (as visible head of the universal Church) and bishops (as visible heads of particular Churches) are the principal “moderators of penitential discipline” (Lumen Gentium, n. 26 § 3), whereas a priest must be delegated with the necessary faculties by his bishop (or religious superior) or by the Pope.
Moreover, priests “who possess the faculty of hearing confessions habitually . . . can exercise that faculty everywhere unless the local ordinary has denied it in a particular case” (1983 Code of Canon Law [CIC], canon 967 § 2).
We also saw last week that the right to absolve certain particularly grave sins (e.g., those punished by excommunication) is “reserved to the Apostolic See or to the local bishop or to priests who are authorized by them” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 308).
Indeed, an excommunicated person is unable to receive the sacraments and thus cannot be sacramentally absolved until the censure of excommunication is lifted. Important to note is that “even though a priest lacks the faculty to hear confessions, he absolves validly and licitly any penitents whatsoever in danger of death from any censures and sins” (CIC, canon 976).
This particular topic is especially relevant in the times in which find ourselves in the context of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy which Pope Francis proclaimed to extend from December 8, 2015 to November 20, 2106.
“As a sign of the Church’s maternal solicitude for the People of God,” the Holy Father has granted special authority to certain priests (Missionaries of Mercy), “to pardon even those sins reserved to the Holy See” (Misericordiae Vultus, n. 18).
His Holiness has chosen this providential time to call to the attention of the Catholic faithful that priests in the confessional are truly “fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan who binds up wounds, of the Father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful” (Catechism of the Catholic Church” [CCC], n. 1465).
The remainder of this column will treat in more depth the topic we began to consider at the close of last week’s installment: the sacramental seal of Confession.
As clearly stated by the Catechism: “The secret of the sacrament of reconciliation is sacred, and cannot be violated under any pretext. ‘The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore, it is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason’ (CIC, canon 983 § 1)” (CCC, n. 2490).
So sacred is the trust taken on by the confessor that the sacramental seal of Confession outweighs any form of professional confidentiality (see CCC, n. 2491).
Fr. Paul Haffner provides a compelling example that is expressive of the level of secrecy that must be maintained by a confessor:
“A person in authority may not use information which has come to him in the course of hearing confessions. Thus, a superior of seminarians, hearing in the confessional, for instance, that one of his subjects was unworthy for ordination, could not use the information to impede or defer the ordination” (The Sacrament Mystery, p. 159).
It is for this reason that seminary rectors and directors of religious institutes are generally not allowed to hear the Confessions of students under their direction (see CIC, canon 985).
Another illustration of the secrecy demanded by this seal was dramatically portrayed in a 1953 Alfred Hitchcock suspense movie entitled I Confess. Early in the film, a Catholic priest (Fr. Logan) hears the murder Confession of the person guilty of killing a wealthy parishioner. As the movie unfolds, Fr. Logan is framed for that very murder. Even though innocent and fully aware of the identity of the actual criminal, Father is bound by the sacramental seal and cannot divulge evidence he learned during the guilty party’s Confession — even at the possible cost of his life.
The history of this most solemn obligation is longstanding. In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council produced one of the Church’s earliest comprehensive teachings on the Sacrament of Penance, which includes the following exacting instruction for the sacrament’s ministers:
“Let him constantly take care, lest by word or sign or any other way whatsoever he may at any time betray the sinner; but if he should need more prudent counsel, he should seek it cautiously without any mention of the person, since he who shall presume to reveal a sin entrusted to him in confession, we decree not only must be deposed from priestly office but must also be thrust into a strict monastery to do perpetual penance” (Denzinger, Enchiridion Symbolorum, n. 814).
Are there any circumstances where the seal of Confession can be broken? Strictly speaking, the answer is an unqualified “no.” Fr. William Saunders elaborates further, “However, a priest may ask the penitent for a release from the sacramental seal to discuss the confession with him or others” (Straight Answers, p. 191).
For example, suppose a repentant sinner wishes to discuss how to overcome a particular fault or how to best avoid temptations that plague his life in a counseling session outside the confessional. The penitent must explicitly give his consent. Even then, cautions Fr. Saunders, the priest should ask the penitent to “refresh his memory” regarding the content of his Confession in the counseling session.
Another example might be when a newly ordained priest hears the Confession of someone regarding a difficult case of conscience. In order to discuss it with a more experienced confessor, the priest must obtain permission from the penitent, and even then he is bound to protect the identity of the penitent.
As we saw last week, a priest who directly violates the seal of Confession incurs automatic excommunication, the lifting of which is reserved for the Apostolic See. What about members of the laity who become aware of the matter of another’s Confession? “[An] interpreter, if there is one, and all others who in any way have knowledge of sins from confession are also obliged to observe secrecy” (CIC, canon 983 § 2).
For example, what happens if one accidentally overhears the Confession of another? If he fails to maintain secrecy, he commits a mortal sin and is subject to “a just penalty, not excluding excommunication” (CIC, canon 1388 § 2). To electronically record a sacramental Confession is strictly forbidden and constitutes a grave sin.
An inspirational example of uncompromising observance of the seal of Confession is that of St. John Nepomucene (1340-1393). Vicar general to the archbishop of Prague and chaplain to the court of Emperor Wenceslaus IV, St. John submitted to martyrdom rather than betray the sacred trust of the confessional.
As the story goes, King Wenceslaus was a tyrant, a vicious young man who succumbed to fits of rage and jealousy. Unfaithful on his own part, he became suspicious of his wife, the pious and virtuous Empress Sophia, for whom St. John served as confessor. The king’s unfounded jealousy led him to try to coerce St. John to reveal an account of her Confession. Steadfastly refusing, the saint was first promised riches, then tortured, and finally threatened with death if he continued to refuse to submit to the king’s requests.
On the eve of the Feast of the Ascension in 1393, after a final but futile attempt to extract the contents of his wife’s Confession from the holy priest, the wicked king ordered that his hands and feet be securely bound. He was then thrown over a bridge in Prague into the Moldau River. As tradition tells it, heavenly lights later revealed the location of his body, which was recovered and buried. When a shrine that was erected in his honor was opened 330 years later, his tongue was found to be incorrupt, a fitting testimony to his confessional silence.
Religious Liberty
Visitors to the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minn., can view a beautiful remembrance of St. John Nepomucene. The magnificent cathedral is graced to have a stained-glass window with his image above one of its confessionals (on the north side next to Jesus, the Good Shepherd).
The saint is depicted with a finger to his lips and the river of his martyrdom beneath his feet. Fittingly inscribed toward the bottom of the window are the words: “Lord, set a guard over my mouth; post a sentry before my lips” (Psalm 141:3).
The sacredness of the seal of Confession is perhaps more relevant now than ever in the United States at a time when religious liberty is constantly under attack. In the state of Louisiana, for example, a woman filed a lawsuit in 2009 alleging that a priest wrongly failed to report to authorities her confessional testimony as a 14-year-old that she was the victim of sexual abuse.
In refusing to testify, the priest cited the inviolability of the confessional seal. On appeal, a Louisiana judge ruled that a priest cannot be compelled by law to reveal what was mentioned in Confession. Let us pray that a higher court does not overturn this ruling.
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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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