Article — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Article One. Concerning the Knowledge of the Confessor.
382. Necessity of Knowledge. Outside a case of necessity, the confessor is bound under grave sin to have that knowledge which is required for duly performing his office; for he who, without due knowledge, exposes the sacrament and himself to the danger of gravely erring, and therefore of inflicting grave injury on the sacrament and great harm on souls. Neither gifts of talent, nor experience, nor common sense, which indeed help knowledge, can supply sufficient knowledge, but cannot fill the place of its parts.
a. A case of necessity is considered to be present not only in danger of death, but also when otherwise the faithful would have to lack confession for a long time. But in a case of necessity even a less learned confessor can licitly hear confessions; for when a confessor is lacking, not only does the insufficiency of the confessor not matter, but not even lack of integrity of confession, since in a case of necessity the sacrament can be administered without material integrity.1
b. Hence a confessor sins who, knowing that necessary knowledge is lacking to him, freely (even from charity or obedience alone) hears confessions, unless there is question of confessions in which, as he prudently supposes, only venial sins are accused. Nor does a superior who commands hear confessions supply for the defect of knowledge; yet in a superior's judgment any priest who doubts concerning his own knowledge can acquiesce with a safe conscience, if by him he is judged fit and is commanded to be free for hearing confessions, provided the superior is sufficiently known to him.2
A superior sins who grants permission to hear confessions to an ignorant priest, because he consents to and cooperates with his sin. He is excused, however, if he exposes a less learned confessor in a case of necessity, where he cannot have one sufficiently learned, as in a small and remote place whose care a learned priest does not wish to undertake.3
A penitent sins who knowingly and deliberately chooses an unfit confessor; but if the penitent confesses to one who is unfit, he is in good faith, the sacrament is valid: for on the part of the penitent there is integral confession and due disposition, and on the part of the confessor at least a generic and confused knowledge of sins, which suffices for valid absolution.4
1 Cf. Lugo, disp. 21, n. 73.
2 Ballerini-Palmieri V, n. 576.
3 Lugo, ibid., n. 64.
4 Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 627, 628.
383. What Knowledge Is Necessary. Knowledge is not required by which the confessor can always, immediately and by himself, solve all occurring doubts; but ordinarily sufficient knowledge is required, by which he can understand and resolve commonly occurring cases, and in more difficult cases at least know prudently how to doubt, so that he can consult books or others more learned.1
a. Greater knowledge is required for hearing confessions in a great city than in a small and remote village; likewise for hearing any faithful of diverse state and diverse condition than for hearing penitents of the same state and condition.
b. A confessor ought to know: a. those things which pertain to the essence and effect of the sacrament of penance, and those things which are required for its valid and licit administration both on his own part and on the part of the penitent; b. the principles of discerning between mortal and venial sins, which sins are mortal and venial in the individual precepts, the various species of sins and the circumstances changing the species; g. those things which pertain to the restitution of goods and reputation; d. the more frequently occurring causes of reserved censures, impediments of marriage, and common and proper obligations of states; e. the roots and occasions of sins, and the opportune remedies to be suggested to penitents.
Note. The confessor should never interrupt the study of moral theology, both that he may preserve sufficient knowledge and that he may increase and perfect it. Nor should anyone flatter himself concerning preserving the knowledge necessary for hearing confessions without tireless study of moral theology, because this knowledge consists not only of many and scattered matters, but also of almost innumerable positive statutes, which are easily lost from memory unless they are recalled again. To preserving and perfecting this knowledge, the frequent reading of books of morals will greatly help, if the confessor, to solve occurring doubts, consults books or other more learned persons; if, after a more difficult confession has been heard, he diligently examines whether he acted rightly in all things; and finally, if he eagerly reads cases and diligently attends gatherings instituted almost everywhere for solving cases of conscience.
1 St. Alphonsus, n. 627.