§ 1. On Giving The Sacraments

The obligation of administering the sacraments arises a) from justice or b) from charity.

72. Principle 1. Those upon whom the care of souls is incumbent by reason of office are bound from justice to administer the sacraments to their subjects who reasonably request them.

The reason is that, by undertaking their office, these pastors entered into a quasi-contract diligently to procure the spiritual salvation of their subjects. Now, the sacraments are most excellent and necessary means for obtaining spiritual salvation. By office, the duty of the care of souls with respect to their own subjects is incumbent upon bishops and other Ordinaries, pastors, vice-pastors, and clerical superiors of religious, but not upon simple priests or even, at least ordinarily, assistant pastors. But it is said: who reasonably request them. For whenever a certainly graver inconvenience arises for pastors of souls from administering a sacrament than arises for the faithful from its denial, there is then no obligation, at least no grave obligation, to acquiesce in the petition of the faithful. Otherwise, there is an obligation to administer the sacraments, which is the graver according as the harm arising for the faithful from the sacraments being denied is graver. If these things are kept before the eyes as a general rule, the following are easily understood.

73. Resolutions:

1. A pastor of souls does not sin if he sometimes denies the sacrament of penance to scrupulous persons and to others who request it importunately. The reason is that either no spiritual harm or only a slight one befalls those requesting from this denial; but a great inconvenience would arise for the pastor if he always had to acquiesce in petitions of this kind that have little foundation.

2. A pastor of souls sins who shows himself morose and difficult in administering the sacraments; who does not willingly visit the sick in order to administer the sacraments to them; who is altogether unwilling to hear confessions except on fixed days, for example, on Saturdays and vigils before feasts. The reason is that the faithful can reasonably be displeased with such modes of acting. There is added the fact that zeal in receiving the sacraments then gradually vanishes, with great harm to the faithful.

3. A pastor of souls does not sin if he administers the sacraments not by himself but through suitable vicars, provided, however, that no scandal arises therefrom and that at least the tacit consent of the superior is present. The reason is evident, because then no spiritual harm befalls the faithful.

4. A pastor of souls is bound, even with danger to life or other great temporal inconveniences, to administer the sacraments to the faithful who are situated in extreme spiritual necessity. For example, during a plague or another contagious disease he is bound to administer the sacrament of baptism or penance even with danger to life, according to the saying: "The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep."²⁷⁹ The same holds concerning the administration of extreme unction, if, however, the sick person certainly cannot receive the sacrament of penance.

5. Authors sharply dispute whether, in the same circumstances, a pastor is bound to administer Viaticum with danger to life. The affirmative opinion is truer, at least in practice, whatever may be said concerning the theoretical probability of the negative opinion. For the faithful would be gravely scandalized if, during a contagious disease, the pastor were unwilling to administer Viaticum to the dying. On October 26, 1576, Gregory XIII replied by rescript that a pastor is absolutely bound to administer baptism and penance; and thus he modified a decision of the Sacred Congregation of the Council issued fifteen days earlier, in which it was determined that during a plague pastors were bound to minister to their parishioners suffering from the plague only the two sacraments necessary for salvation, namely, baptism and penance.²⁸⁰

6. During a plague or another contagious disease a pastor can and must employ suitable precautions lest he himself be infected by the disease, for example, by giving Communion by means of a gilded spoon or by performing the anointings by means of a rod at the end of which there is a little cotton. Benedict XIV permitted this by a decree of the Holy Office on June 11, 1754, but he earnestly exhorted the Apostolic Vicar of Algeria to procure the administration of the Eucharist and extreme unction during the plague.²⁸¹ Lehmkuhl²⁸² rightly writes: "Excessive fear and excessive caution, whether on the part of the pastor or of other priests, is truly reprehensible, since the faithful, seeing so great a fear, will receive scandal rather than edification. Trust in God and remedies employed with sober prudence will sufficiently remove the danger. St. Charles Borromeo gave an altogether heroic example of charity when, himself the Archbishop of Milan, during the plague he took the lead in ministering the sacraments, and indeed approached the sick lying in hospitals so that he might confer not only the necessary sacraments but even confirmation itself."

²⁷⁹ John 10:11.

²⁸⁰ Cf. St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor., l. 6, n. 233. Benedict XIV treats this controversy at length, De syn. dioec., l. 13, c. 19.

²⁸¹ Collect. de Prop. Fide, n. 596, note.

²⁸² Theol. mor. II, n. 51.

74. Principle 2. Those who by reason of office are not pastors of souls are bound from charity to administer the sacraments to those reasonably requesting them; and this obligation is grave if grave scandal or great spiritual harm for the faithful arises from the administration being denied.

It is self-evident that priests who are not pastors of souls by office are not bound to administer the sacraments as strictly as pastors are. Nevertheless, the avoidance of scandal or the order of charity can also impose this obligation upon them. And first, scandal must be avoided; for no slight scandal arises if a priest refuses a sacrament to one reasonably requesting it; for example, if a confessor sitting in the confessional were to refuse to hear the confession of a poor man while admitting several rich persons. Then, the order of charity²⁸³ requires that we assist our neighbor who is situated in necessity. If he is situated in extreme spiritual necessity, a priest must administer the sacraments necessary for salvation even with danger to bodily life. It is self-evident that this obligation does not exist if another is present who can and wills to administer the sacrament. Therefore, for example, a simple priest is bound under grave sin to give absolution to a dying sinner rightly disposed if no other confessor willing or able to hear the confession is present.

As regards the baptism of a dying infant of non-Catholic or Jewish parents, even the hatred against the Church which would certainly arise seems to be a sufficient cause for a priest or layman to abstain from conferring baptism if the parents are vehemently unwilling.²⁸⁴ If the neighbor is situated in grave spiritual necessity, a priest is bound to administer the sacraments even with notable bodily inconvenience. Hence, for example, a confessor is bound to hear confessions even with some fatigue if otherwise the penitents must remain in the state of mortal sin for a notable time. In a light or common necessity of the neighbor, there is indeed no strict obligation to administer the sacraments to him; nevertheless, the priest is not to show himself difficult in administering the sacraments unless necessity or at least a reasonable cause demands it. On the contrary, let him always be ready to provide the faithful with such efficacious means of eternal salvation.

²⁸³ The order of charity and the diverse degrees of charity were discussed above, I, 579 sqq.

²⁸⁴ Thus also teach D'Annibale (Summul. II, 82 [3]); Vermeersch (Theol. mor. III, 199).