The problem posed in the above article does not exist in the Catholic Church, since every good confessor knows this principle, that when a penitent confesses a sin which is also a civil felony, involving harm or injustice to other persons, the confessor must withhold absolution UNTIL the penitent turns himself in to the civil authorities. Thus there is no seal of confession that needs to be violated, as such persons must be dismissed from the confessional without absolution, except when they are already in jail or custody.
What you say is true when an innocent person is being accused of the harm caused by the would-be penitent; otherwise, your claim is overly broad, unclear and lacking foundation.
You evidently did not read the word, “sin”, in the proper context. I use words in their Catholic senses. If it is a sin, then you must confess it. And if that sin is also a civil crime, you are obliged to undergo punishment, because inasmuch as it is a sin it pertains to the moral law, and inasmuch as the state punishes violations of the moral law, Catholic are subject to the state. We are not talking about library fines, or arbitrary laws which have no basis in the moral law. Nor are we talking about misdemeanors, such as petty theft where restitution can be done, though even in that case it must be done before absolution. Nor are we talking about unjust laws which have no basis in the natural or moral law, like sanitary-dictorship controls. The topic at hand is rape of minors. If you don’t think a perp should be required to turn himself in, then I do not know what more to say to you.
This is a point then, that should have been made a long time ago, because it changes everything. Please allow me to post a situation to see if it meets the criteria?
If a priest hears a confession, and the penitent is known to the confessor as another priest, and the priest confesses sexually abusing an altar boy, the confessor will not give absolution until that penitent go to the police and tells them what occurred?
And this is true for the laity as well? Bishops?
Thank you for any elaboration, Brother. This is not a minor point and it is mysterious as to why this would not be generally known. It makes a big difference if this is true and it is actually applied. God bless you.
Is that the practice as understood by most priests and bishops?
Whether the penitent be known or not, if he be a Priest or religious and cannot be seen or is out of habit he must at the beginning state what he us. Otherwise you are correct
I am a bit confused. If a perpetrator confesses such sin, the priest in no case can reveal to the civil authorities that the sinner so-and-so committed such a crime, either if he turns himself in, or not. Am I wrong? Isn’t it what is at stake here?
What is at stake is that the civil authorities want the crimes reported. Obliging the guilty to report them is the solution to the apparent confict. The Bergoglian Church obviously wants to absolve them without require that they turn themselves in.
Brother Bugnolo.
I don’t believe you are correct. It is not the confessors business to withhold absolution until restitution is made…..for any sin.
A priest can encourage it but NOT demand temporal compliance.
Please research and revise.
You can believe what you like, but St. Alphonsus dei Liguori, the Doctor of the Church on Confession and Moral Theology, says that all the Doctors and Fathers of the Church agree, that absolution must be withheld, not only when the individual is not penitent, but when his penitence refuses to make restitution for his sin, and when that restitution requires turning oneself into authorities, that becomes a reason why the confessor MUST refuse absolution. That is why in Catholic Ages, there was a confessor assigned to prisons and jails, because only there could criminals honestly make a confession. Accepting your civil punishment for a civil crime is the obligation of the Christian, when that civil crime is founded upon the natural or moral law or evangelical law. We are not talking about fake crimes invented by masonic states.