Reparation of Defects

Manner of Repairing Defects Made in Hearing a Confession.—(a) The Reparation to be Made.—If the penitent has been deprived of absolution, he should be absolved; if he has been wrongly instructed, he should be set right; if temporal loss has been caused, temporal restitution should be made.

(b) The Person to Whom Restitution Should Be Made.—The injured person should be compensated. Hence if restitution was mistakenly imposed on the penitent and he cannot recover his property, the confessor should reimburse him; if the penitent was mistakenly excused from restitution, payment is due the third party who loses by the advice.

(e) The Manner of Making Reparation.—If possible, the reparation should be made in the penitent’s next confession, as this is less troublesome to all concerned. But if the confessor has wrongly instructed the penitent in an important matter, he is bound more probably (after obtaining the penitent’s permission to speak about confession matter) to retract, even outside of the confessional, if this can be done without scandal or other serious evil, which would be rare.

Excuses from the Duty of Repairing Mistakes.—(a) Physical Impossibility.—If the confessor does not know who the penitent is or cannot find him, there is nothing to do but to repent over the mistake and to pray for the penitent that God may provide for him.

(b) Moral Impossibility.—Grave inconvenience excuses, unless the confessor has been seriously at fault against justice (e.g., by omitting absolution, by giving incorrect instruction in an important matter, by neglecting to warn against an occasion of serious sin, by wrongly advising on restitution of a large sum), or the salvation of a soul is at stake, as when an unabsolved penitent is dying (see 1797 sqq.)