Case LXIX: Is It Permissible to Grant Absolution to a Dying Heretic?

Januarius Bucceroni, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome, gives (in Analecta Eccl.) the solution of the following case. A young German, Titius, Protestant, of such good moral conduct that he may be said to live in heresy without fault of his own, was taken seriously ill while staying with his mother in Rome. The German Catholic priest Cajus, befriended with Titius, at once went to visit Titius, solicitous for his eternal welfare. During their chat Titius declared himself a sinner, and begged the priest to pray that God might forgive him. The priest wished to avail himself of this good opportunity to lead Titius formally into the Catholic Church, and to baptize him. He disclosed his intention first of all, privately, to the mother, who, however, opposed the idea very strongly, adding that no doubt could exist about the validity of the Baptism, and that she thereafter would allow the priest to speak to the sick man only about points of faith common to both religions; as a consequence she did not leave the patient’s side after that. As the patient’s condition grew worse, the priest saw no other alternative and addressed the patient in the following manner: “Do you believe everything that God has revealed through Christ? Do you sincerely repent of your sins? Do you, before God and before me, confess yourself, as you have already done, to be a sinner? Are you willing that, in so far as I can, I assist you to attain salvation?” The patient assenting to every question, Cajus directed him: “Put your trust in God; He will forgive you your sins.” Thereupon he gave him, secretly, absolution sub conditione. Titius died shortly after and was buried according to the Protestant rite.

The questions are:

I. Whether a material heretic, who has the use of reason, and is in danger of death, can be validly absolved without first having joined the Catholic Church?

II. Whether Cajus proceeded correctly? -

Resp. ad. I. It is true St. ALPHONSUS excludes dying heretics from absolution, when he says: “For heretics, even if in that case they give signs of repentance, are not to be absolved unless they expressly ask for absolution, because such persons can never prudently be presumed to give those signs with a view to confession, from which they shrink exceedingly” (1.6, n. 48). But this praesumtio is a praesumtio generalis, which not only must yield to the truth, but to a contrary praesumtio in casu particulari. One is justified to presume the contrary in the case of a merely material heretic, who lives in good faith and is ready to do everything that God requires for attaining salvation.

P. Gury (Casus, Vol. II, n. 488) distinguishes, for this reason, between material and formal heretics, and holds that to a material heretic, unconscious and in danger of death, may be granted absolution sub conditione. GENNARI (Consultat., p. 255) extends this also to formal heretics. But if absolution, under such circumstances, can be given to an unconscious person, it can be given also to a heretic who is yet conscious.

One can only be opposed to the granting of absolution in the belief that it would be invalid on account of the lack of the intentio and the actus poenitentis. But is the necessary intention indeed lacking? If for Baptism the intentio implicita suffices, then the intentio implicita can suffice also for the Sacrament of Penance. This intentio implicita is included in the sincere will to do everything that God has ordained for attaining salvation. As regards the actus poenitentis, for the validity of the Sacrament is sufficient a confessio generica; it will not be difficult to induce a dying heretic to confess himself in general as sinner and to confidently ask God’s forgiveness, but if this is done, then we have the confessio and contritio, requisite for the validity of absolution.

Nor does defectus fidei Catholicae offer a difficulty, for a haereticus materialis, one who is in good faith, may really be possessed of the fides supernaturalis, the faith necessary for justification. Should some one object, further, that the ordinatio actuum poenitentis is lacking, meaning the actus poenitentis (namely confessio, contritio) were not obtained in ordine ad accipiendam absolutionem, the reply is that an ordinatio implicita is present included in the will to do what God requires of us, and this ordinatio suffices.

Moreover, theologians teach, almost universally, that absolution sub conditione may be given to a dying haereticus materialis, bereft of consciousness. But why may it be given to such a one? Certainly not because it is presumed that God will instruct him by interior enlightenment of the necessity of the Sacrament of Penance, and that then this dying man, in ordine ad accipiendam absolutionem, will make the actus. Such supposition does not belong to the common order of things, but to the province of miracles. We can not argue, therefore, on any such presumption. The reason can, therefore, only be because theologians believe that the actus poenitentis may be presumed in the manner mentioned, i. e., in that general form which, absolutely speaking, suffices for the validity of the Sacrament.

Resp. ad. II. That Cajus acted rightly follows from the above. But as he appeared to have doubt also about the validity of the Baptism, he should have administered Baptism privately sub conditione. For this purpose it would have sufficed, for instance, to wet the patient’s forehead with a cloth and pronounce the forma. It was also quite correct for the priest to keep secret the granting of absolution and to allow the Protestant form of burial; he could not have prevented the latter.

We would like to state some principles that will apply in practical procedure,

1. In the case of a dying non-Catholic already unconscious, absolution may be given sub conditione. This will apply, at all events if the person is a haereticus materialis. But as it is impossible for us to say with certainty that a particular case is bona or mala fide, we may therefore give the absolutio conditionatim to all unconscious, dying heretics, excepting only those, de quorum indispositione constat. Theologically the granting of absolution is justified by the fact that one accepts the anxia respiratio, ictus oculorum... as an outward sign of the inner disposition, and of the desiderium (implicitum) accipiendi absolutionem, or that one concludes that through the bona fides externe manifestata, there has shown itself outwardly the desiderium recipiendi necessaria salutis media; this desiderium is synonymous with the desiderium implicitum Sacramenti.

2. In the case of a dying non-Catholic, still conscious, if prudence forbids urging him to join the Church, we should above all incite in him acts of faith, hope and charity, and of perfect contrition; we should induce him to declare himself a sinner before God, and to consent that the priest help him, as far as possible, to attain salvation. Then he may be given absolution sub conditione.

Is there a doubt as to whether the sick man has been baptized validly, then, in every case, the absolutio conditionata must be preceded by baptismus conditionatus as well.

Ign. Rieder, D.D.