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The Penalties Established Against Transgressors
Each work's treatment of this topic, whole and in its own order, in its own column. Paragraph numbers link to the passage in its place in the manual. Back to the topic page.
Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology
Vol. II, Bk. III, Tr. V, Diss. II, Pt. II, Sect. I, Ch. II, Art. III, § I, Point IV, Scholion. On the Penalties Established Against Transgressors
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).
Merkelbach, Summa Theologiae Moralis
Vol. III, Special Moral Theology: On…, Treatise: On Penance, Fourth Part: On the Minist…, Question Three: On the Dut…, Article III: On the Duties after the Act of Confession
630. Observations. - 1. According to can. 2369: a) A confessor who shall have presumed to violate the sacramental seal directly incurs by that very fact an excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a most special manner.
b) But one who has violated the seal only indirectly is liable to penalties ferendae sententiae, the same as confessors soliciting to shameful things (can. 2368, § 1), namely suspension, or even inability to hear confessions, privation of benefices, dignities, and active and passive voice; indeed, in the graver case, degradation.
c) Rash and therefore conscious violation of the seal by an interpreter or by all others to whom knowledge of confession has in any way come is decreed to be punished, according to the gravity of the guilt, by a salutary penalty (ferendae sententiae), which can even be excommunication.
- In ecclesiastical law, according to can. 1757, § 3, the following are repelled as incapable of giving testimony: "priests, as regards all those things which have become known to them from sacramental confession, even if they have been released from the bond of the seal; indeed things heard by anyone and in any way on the occasion of confession cannot be received even as an indication of truth."
- Lest the seal be broken indirectly, it is better always to respond in the same way. Thus, when asked about sins, let him say that he has heard or knows nothing; - when asked about absolution given, let him say: I have discharged my office, or: are such questions to be asked?; - when asked about communion to be ministered (e.g., in a hospital), let him say: ask the penitent whether he wishes to communicate.
- Concerning a certificate of confession to be given or denied, let it be noted: a) such a certificate can always be given to all who truly intend sacramental confession, whether absolved or not absolved; - b) a certificate cannot be denied to an indisposed penitent who has truly confessed, if he asks for it outside confession; because thus the confessor would use knowledge of confession with burden to the penitent; - c) likewise it cannot be denied to a penitent asking for it in confession, provided the penitent is in those circumstances in which it is customarily given, because it would be an indirect violation of the seal, since it would be revealed that the penitent had not confessed duly; - d) it must always be denied to those who simulate confession, even if this is done to obtain a certificate: for then there is no obligation of the seal, indeed the confessor, by giving the certificate, would falsely say that the penitent had confessed; nevertheless on account of grave inconveniences he could say that such a one approached him or that he heard him in the confessional; - e) a testimony of absolution granted cannot be written for one who was not absolved, because it would be to lie; yet if a printed certificate should imprudently exhibit a testimony of absolution, it would have to be handed over also to him who was not absolved, at least if generally it is customarily handed over, or he himself publicly asks for it: thus because of the seal; nor would the confessor lie, but he would only place the material act of handing over (or signing) the certificate for a proportionately grave reason, in circumstances which sufficiently indicate the restriction.
- If the confessor in a difficult case needs counsel: a) he can have recourse to a theologian to whom the penitent is altogether unknown; - b) if this cannot be done, let him set forth the case in such a way that he avoids danger of revelation, i.e., as fictional, omitting non-necessary adjuncts from which the penitent could be known, and mixing in false things which do not change the substance of the matter; - c) or, if it is not conveniently done thus, let him ask from the penitent permission to take counsel and to speak with another about a matter pertaining to confession; - d) but if this is denied, and in no way can he avoid the danger of revelation, let him send him to another confessor, or if this can scarcely be done, after diligently employing study and prayer, let him trust in God and solve the difficulty himself in the better way in which he can.