Chapter II: On Confession

507. Confession is required for the sacrament of Penance, because it was instituted after the manner of a judgment. For a judgment an accusation is required. But in this judgment there is no accuser, nor plaintiff, nor witness, except the guilty party himself, who therefore must manifest his offenses. This is done by confession, by which he subjects his sins to God, through His minister.

Before Christ there was no sacrament of Penance, and therefore no sacramental confession; nevertheless there existed a certain confession of sins as an act of the virtue of penance. And indeed:

a) In the Old Law it was threefold, namely: 1) confession made to God in order to obtain more easily the remission of sins (Prov. XXVIII, 13; Ecclus. IV, 31); 2) a general confession by which the high priest publicly recited once a year the impurities of the people of Israel, as is described in Lev. XVI, 20-21; 3) a distinct confession of some sin, which was made to priests, who offered sacrifice for a determinate sin, because the victim was different according to the diversity of sins, or also when restitution had to be made (Lev. IV, 3-31; V, 1-13; VI, 1-7; Num. V, 6-7).

b) When John was already announcing and preparing the proximate coming of Christ, the Jews who were seeking the baptism of John unto penance confessed their sins, that they might more efficaciously manifest the purpose of doing penance (Mt. III, 6; Mk. I, 5).

c) But after Christ, specific and distinct confession made to a priest is now necessary for the validity of Penance as a sacrament (Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 5), whence it was called exomologesis, i.e., declaration.¹ This confession was instituted by Christ the Lord Himself, and by divine right is necessary for all and each mortal sin (ibid., can. 6 and 7). Yet the manner of confessing publicly, although it is not forbidden and has been used by some for the humiliation of sins and of self, for the example of others, or for the edification of the Church, is not of precept; and therefore from the beginning of the Church there also existed secret confession, which is not alien from the mind of Christ, nor a human invention. Thus defined the Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 5, at the same time giving the theological reason for the necessity of distinct and specific confession of all sins: "For it is clear that priests could not have exercised this judgment, the cause being unknown, nor indeed could they have kept equity in imposing punishments, if penitents had declared their sins only in general, and not rather in species and one by one. From these things it is gathered that all mortal sins, of which penitents after diligent examination of themselves have consciousness, must be recounted in confession, even if they are most hidden."

¹ Yet the word is also used for the whole and laborious action of penance, as we said, p. 367.