Implicit in the Church’s Code of Canon Law (Canon 959 ff.) is the notion that the penitent is in the personal presence of the confessor. Certainly at this time, there is no provision in the Church’s sacramental practice for online Confession and absolution. Is Catholic Confession available online? This would be so convenient.Ī. The confessor can encourage, plead with, urge the penitent to do exactly that – he might even offer to accompany the penitent to the police station – but having judged the penitent to be truly sorry, the absolving priest has no authority to impose this further step as a prerequisite to absolution. (In 2017, when an Australian government commission recommended that Catholic priests become mandatory reporters on child sexual abuse, the Catholic Church strongly objected as applied to the Sacrament of Penance.)Īs to your specific question, forgiveness in the sacrament is contingent on a person’s genuine sorrow and sincere resolve not to commit the sin again those are the 'strings attached.' Beyond that, a priest has no power to condition absolution on the sinner’s turning himself in to the police.

The Church’s Code of Canon Law could not be more clear: 'The sacramental seal is inviolable therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason' (Canon 983).Ī later canon stipulates that a priest who would violate the seal is to be excommunicated (Canon 1388). You are right, too, about the seal of Confession a priest is bound to absolute secrecy. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries)' (No. In fact, the present-day Catechism of the Catholic Church says: 'Many sins wrong our neighbor. With regard to the conditions for forgiveness, you learned your catechism well. My question is this: Are murderers forgiven if they do not turn themselves into the police and serve prison time for the crime? Or is the sin forgiven with no strings attached?Ī. On television and in the movies, sometimes a murderer confesses to a priest who is unable then to break the seal of Confession.

We were taught that, to be forgiven in Confession, we had to: 1) be truly sorry 2) resolve firmly never to commit the sin again and 3) make it right (e.g., give the money back, tell people that the gossip was a lie, etc.).

Absolution by murder