§ II. On the Office of Instructing

I. If ignorance concerns either those things which certainly or probably must be known by necessity of means, or those things which are required for receiving the sacrament of Penance fruitfully, the confessor, before absolving the penitent, should instruct him or should take care that he first learn them (St. Alphonsus, VI, 608, 610). Commonly it will be better at once to instruct such a penitent summarily,¹ to stir him to an act of faith in the things to be known,² and to absolve him, with the obligation imposed of afterward learning more diligently the rudiments of the Christian faith.³

II. If ignorance concerns things to be known by necessity of precept, commonly he should absolve the penitent at once; nevertheless, he should be warned of the obligation of afterward obtaining fuller instruction.

III. If ignorance concerns an obligation of doing or omitting something, admonition of itself must always be made, because both ignorance of this kind and the material sins arising from it involve some evil and can become harmful. Practically, however, these rules are established:

1. Admonition must always be made if the common good or positive law requires it. I said "always," even if the penitent is foreseen as not going to obey the admonition. "Universally," so Benedict XIV in the Constitution Apostolica,⁴ "the penitent must be admonished when ... he is in those circumstances of fact which, if the confessor dissimulates, strengthen the sinner in a wicked work, not without the scandal of others, when someone observes that those things which are practiced with impunity by those who frequent the Sacraments of the Church are judged by him to be lawful for himself." The reason for this doctrine is handed down by St. Alphonsus in these words: "Although the confessor by reason of his office is principally bound to attend to the good of the penitent, nevertheless, since he is a part of the commonwealth and has been constituted minister for the good of the Christian commonwealth, he is bound to prefer the public good to the private good of the penitent. So commonly" (VI, 615; Homo Apostolicus, tract 16, n. 116). Hence generally the following must be admonished: 1. those who hold public offices, whether ecclesiastical or civil, and err concerning the duties of the office (St. Alphonsus, at the cited place); 2. those who have given their name to a harmful sect, for example socialism, liberalism, or the sect of Freemasons; 3. those who have been deputed by the party of liberals or socialists either to Legislative Assemblies or to Provincial or Municipal Administration; 4. those who are bound to denounce a confessor by reason of solicitation, as will be explained later.

2. Outside the case of the common good or of positive law, or considering only the good of the penitent, admonition is to be made as follows:

a) It must be made if it is judged that it will be useful or at least not harmful to the penitent. Hence it must be made: 1. if the penitent through ignorance regards as a sin what is not a sin, or as a grave sin what is light; 2. if the penitent actually doubts about liceity. Nevertheless, if the penitent asks the confessor, often "he ought not answer more than he is asked. For example, if someone bound by a vow of chastity asks whether the marriage was valid because of the vow, and whether he is bound to render the debt to his wife, the confessor should affirm both, saying nothing about the obligation of not asking, even if he knows that the marriage is null because of some diriment impediment" (St. Alphonsus, VI, 616); 3. if the ignorance is foreseen as soon going to cease, as if it concerns the first conclusions of the natural law, for example concerning the malice of pollution, the penitent should commonly be warned at once, and all the more because customs of this kind are rooted out with greater difficulty the longer they have been protracted (St. Alphonsus, III, 226); 4. if it concerns removing a proximate and voluntary occasion of sinning. Yet I would not deny that the penitent can be left in good faith in this case if it is truly feared that, after the admonition has been made and neglected, he will become wholly alienated from the sacraments; 5. if it concerns Prelates, Superiors, parish priests, or parents, both because ignorance is commonly not perfect and because the common good is involved (St. Alphonsus, VI, 615). Finally, if the penitent is judged not indeed immediately, but soon, to be going to obey the admonition, it should be deferred somewhat (St. Alphonsus, Homo Apostolicus, tract 16, n. 115).

b) It must be omitted if it is judged that it will be harmful to the penitent.

c) If it is doubtful whether the admonition will help or harm, "the confessor ought to weigh the harm and the useful result, likewise the degree of fear of harm and of hope of utility, and choose that which he judges to preponderate.... For the rest, in doubt it regularly seems to me that formal evils are to be avoided rather than material ones" (St. Alphonsus, VI, 616).

¹ Let him not always require that the proposed articles be held in memory.

² For example by asking: Do you believe that there is one God? and so forth.

³ Roman Ritual, title VII, chapter 1, n. 14.

⁴ June 26, 1749.