Article IV. On the Abuse of Confession

Preliminary Note. A heinous abuse of confession is committed especially in two ways, namely, if a confessor absolves his own accomplice, or if on the occasion of confession he solicits a penitent to shameful things. There was already discussion above, n. 381, of a third abuse of confession, namely, of the illicit inquiry into the name of an accomplice. Since an abuse of confession is a crime inducing suspicion of heresy, judgment concerning it pertains to the Holy Office or its delegate, who by the law itself is the bishop. It is clearer than light that a confessor who, on the occasion of confession, solicits a penitent to shameful things notably abuses confession. But a confessor absolving his own accomplice also, at least ordinarily, gravely abuses confession, since such a criminal priest scarcely ever gives salutary counsels and is not a suitable judge, because he himself is a co-culprit. We shall treat: 1. of the absolution of an accomplice; 2. of solicitation to shameful things.