Article II. On the Duties and Obligations of the Confessor

431. The office of the confessor is fourfold, namely, that of judge, teacher, physician, and father. But his principal office is the office of judge, since the sacrament of penance was instituted by Christ after the manner of a judgment. Since the sacramental judgment is not a condemnatory judgment but a liberative one and for the benefit of the penitent, the confessor must treat the penitent with paternal affection, heal his wounds as a good physician, and dispel his ignorance as a teacher. In exercising his office, the confessor must keep before his eyes a) the honor of God, and consequently the good of the sacrament, so that with great diligence he procures not only the validity but also the liceity of the sacrament; b) the good of the penitent. For the sacraments are for men.³⁷⁴

In order, however, that we may discuss all the duties of the confessor in a clear order, we shall treat: 1. his duties before the act of confession; 2. in the act of confession itself; 3. after confession.

³⁷⁴ Code of Canon Law, c. 888, § 1.