Are all past sins forgiven after confession whether or not you confessed them?

[InquisitiveM]

Hi! I feel that I have received possibly conflicting messages from two different priests about past sins that you do not directly confess in confession. Recently, a priest asked me if the sins I was confessing happened before my last confession. I said yes - and he said that they were already forgiven and to believe in God’s forgiveness. However, prior to this, I had confessed to another priest a sin that was before my prior confession; I’m pretty sure he knew it was from awhile ago based on what I said to him. However, I considered it bad enough that I should confess it. And I did.

So are there blurred lines here? I mean, if a sin is really bad, even if it happened before your last confession, shouldn’t you confess it? What is the proper thing to do? (especially if you do remember bad sins from your past that you have not directly confessed yet, but are before your last confession.)

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

They could both be right depending on the circumstances. Venial sins are not required to be confessed, so if they go unconfessed they are forgiven and don’t need to be recalled at a future confession. Mortal/grave sins that are forgotten are still forgiven but if they are later remembered we are still required to confess them at our next confession.