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 III. On Things to Be Observed After Confession › § I. On the Office of Preserving the Sacramental Seal › Point IV. Corollaries from the Doctrine Handed Down

Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Scholion. On the Penalties Established Against Transgressors

440.

I. The confessor who has presumed to violate the sacramental seal directly (n. 428) is subject to excommunication reserved in the most special manner to the Apostolic See (can. 2369, § 1).

II. A confessor who has violated the sacramental seal "only indirectly" (n. 428) is liable to the penalties of which canon 2368, § 1, treats (cited canon), that is, he is to be suspended from the celebration of Mass and from hearing sacramental confessions, or even, according to the gravity of the delict, is to be declared incapable of receiving them; he is to be deprived of all benefices, dignities, active and passive voice, and is to be declared incapable of all these things; and in graver cases he is also to be subjected to degradation.

III. Others who have rashly violated the sacramental seal are to be punished according to the gravity of guilt with a salutary penalty, which can even be excommunication (can. 2369, § 2).

The Penalties Established Against Transgressors