Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume II › Book III. On the Aids of the Christian Life, or on the Sacraments › Treatise V. On Penance › Dissertation II. On the Sacrament of Penance › Part II. On the Ministration of the Sacrament of Penance › Section I. On the Ministration of the Sacrament of Penance Generally › Chapter II. On the Right Use of the Power › Article II. On Things to Be Avoided in Confession › § III. On Solicitation to Shameful Things

point — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Point II. On Those who Must Denounce

420.

I. The persons who are bound to denounce are:

  1. The solicited persons themselves (can. 904 and 2368, § 2), even immature persons. One who because of simplicity did not understand the solicitation is bound "after he or she has become in possession of himself or herself and has acquired knowledge of the past solicitation."1 Moreover the solicited persons themselves, and they alone, are bound under penalty of excommunication according to canon 2368, § 2, as follows: "But the faithful person who knowingly has omitted, within a month, to denounce the one by whom he or she was solicited, contrary to the prescription of canon 904, incurs an excommunication latae sententiae reserved to no one, and is not to be absolved unless after he or she has satisfied the obligation or has seriously promised that he or she will satisfy it." Immature persons, however, are not liable to excommunication (can. 2230). It is said "within a month," that is, within a month from the obligation having become known. Moreover the solicited person is bound, even if he or she cannot prove the crime (St. Alphonsus, VI, 695).

  2. It is disputed whether others who know the crime with sufficient certainty are bound to denunciation. Moreover the guilty person certainly is not bound to denounce himself.2 Likewise, as regards others, who certainly are not bound under censure, once the law set forth is considered, the negative answer is given with sufficient probability, because canon 904 speaks only of the solicited penitent. The Code indeed refers to the apostolic constitutions; but, apart from the fact that the apostolic constitutions do not speak of others,3 the Code declares only that the penitent is bound according to the norm of the said constitutions. It is clear, however, that others can be obligated by reason of the common good to be protected, and this also by force of canon 1935, § 2.

1 Holy Office, May 11, 1707.

2 Holy Office, November 17, 1626.

3 Others, however, before the Code were bound to denounce (Holy Office, February 11, 1661, response 14; March 10, 1677).

Those who Must Denounce

421.

II. Causes excusing from the obligation. From the obligation there excuse, or at least suspend it:

  1. Grave extrinsic damage or inconvenience prudently feared. The case could be present if the priest to be denounced were one who supported the solicited person; likewise if a sick person would be so disturbed by this burden that the illness would be aggravated. When the inconvenience ceases, the obligation urges.

  2. An entrusted secret, but not a natural or promised secret. "No one," says St. Alphonsus, "is bound to a secret, even promised by oath, when the secret tends toward common damage. But otherwise ... if the solicitation was manifested for the purpose of asking counsel; for disclosure of the secret would then be contrary to human intercourse, and also contrary to the public good, which certainly intervenes in counsels being sought" (VI, 698).

  3. In remote regions, impossibility of approaching the competent Authority without grave inconvenience excuses.1

Intrinsic inconvenience does not excuse, such as the shame of the solicited person, or fear of arousing hatred of the one denounced.2 A truly founded fear of one's own infamy, however, would excuse (St. Alphonsus, VI, 681). Nevertheless, here observe that the circumstance that the denouncing person first solicited, or consented to the solicitation, would not excuse. Still, the person cannot be questioned about consent, nor is he or she bound to manifest it; and if it is manifested, it cannot be noted in the acts.3 Moreover, "if a person known to the Ordinary himself fears some infamation from the denunciation to be made before him, the Sacred Penitentiary, having been consulted, will delegate a confessor to receive the denunciation in the name of the Holy See and to transmit it to that Apostolic See."4

1 Holy Office, January 22, 1727 (Collectanea, n. 308); May 20, 1842 (Collectanea, n. 949).

2 Note that the name of the denouncer is never to be manifested to the priest.

3 Holy Office, July 25, 1624; February 20, 1867.

4 Planchard, De Const. Bened. XIV quae incipit "Sacra Poen.", p. 48, note.

Those who Must Denounce