Can a penitent in Confession dispense his confessor from the Seal?

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Can a penitent in Confession dispense his confessor from the Seal?
 
No. A priest is never allowed to disclose a confession under any circumstance.

Penitents are free to discuss their confessed sins as it suits them.
 
DavidFilmer said:
Can a penitent in Confession dispense his confessor from the Seal?
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If a priest asks a person who has confessed if he may discuss with that penitent something mentioned in Confession the penitent may give such permission but assuming the penitent gives permission such discussion is confined to the priest and the penitent. The priest may not reveal that to any other party.
 
TK421 said:
No. A priest is never allowed to disclose a confession under any circumstance.

Penitents are free to discuss their confessed sins as it suits them.
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^^^This. I’ve read Da Rulz, and while they mention no restrictions on the penitent’s talking about his/her confession, they also mention no conditions in which the penitent may release the confessor to talk about what the penitent said with a third party.
 
Why would a penitent ever need or want a priest to break that seal?

If it is to tell authorities of a crime, the penitent need only confess himself.

Sacrament aside, the word of the priest saying what the penitent confessed to would have no more legal status than if the penitent confessed the same thing to a neighbor or a policeman, because without collaborating evidence, the priest, the neighbor, and the policeman would still only have second hand information.
 
Neofight said:
Why would a penitent ever need or want a priest to break that seal?

If it is to tell authorities of a crime, the penitent need only confess himself.

Sacrament aside, the word of the priest saying what the penitent confessed to would have no more legal status than if the penitent confessed the same thing to a neighbor or a policeman, because without collaborating evidence, the priest, the neighbor, and the policeman would still only have second hand information.
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Not everybody feels the need to have their sins put in a radiation vault. Public confession was practiced in previous centuries, even in the form of the sacrament. Although really, sins are unoriginal anyway. There’s not much to reveal in the first place. Impurity, bursts of wrath, sacred words spoken in vain, etc… People are boring in their depravity but always unique in their holiness.

If there’s anything meaningful a priest can’t help but remember in confession it’s probably in conversations afterwards and witnesses of a person rebuilding themselves. The sins themselves are probably so repetitive and rote that he can’t remember them even if he wanted to.

A priest being able to break the Seal under certain circumstances would be a canonical disaster either way, since breaking it incurs the removal of his duties as a priest. What if penitents started claiming they never wanted the Seal broken, etc? It’s much easier when it’s absolute.
 
TK421 said:
Not everybody feels the need to have their sins put in a radiation vault. Public confession was practiced in previous centuries, even in the form of the sacrament. Although really, sins are unoriginal anyway. There’s not much to reveal in the first place. Impurity, bursts of wrath, sacred words spoken in vain, etc… People are boring in their depravity but always unique in their holiness.

If there’s anything meaningful a priest can’t help but remember in confession it’s probably in conversations afterwards and witnesses of a person rebuilding themselves. The sins themselves are probably so repetitive and rote that he can’t remember them even if he wanted to.

A priest being able to break the Seal under certain circumstances would be a canonical disaster either way, since breaking it incurs the removal of his duties as a priest. What if penitents started claiming they never wanted the Seal broken, etc? It’s much easier when it’s absolute.
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No, you misunderstood…I agree, it would be a mistake to break the seal.

My point is about the validity of the question by the OP.

There is no need for a penitent to ask a priest to break the seal, when they can make a public confession outside the sacrament, on their own.

After a public confession, there would be no need for (and it would be, as you say, a disaster) for the priest to collaborate by saying, “Yeah, that’s what he told me in the confessional”.

So, yes, the proper course of action is for the priest to remain silent.
 
thistle said:
If a priest asks a person who has confessed if he may discuss with that penitent something mentioned in Confession the penitent may give such permission but assuming the penitent gives permission such discussion is confined to the priest and the penitent. The priest may not reveal that to any other party.
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That’s still not allowed. As far as the priest is concerned, he can’t even acknowledge that he heard the penitent’s confession. This is one of the reasons why my priest doesn’t do face-to face confession.
 
If it’s some criminal stuff and penitent wants the priest to contact the authorities, why wouldn’t they tell those things to the priest OUTSIDE of the confessional? That way the priest could report the penitent to the authorites without breaking the seal.
 
A priest will often say something like “Would you come and see me, or another priest you’re comfortable talking with, outside of the confessional, regarding that matter you told me about” However, the penitent is the one who must begin the discussion (never the priest) outside of the confessional.
 
As others have said, “no”.

Once I was in Confession with a priest whose younger brother I taught. As I was about to leave, I mentioned that his brother was the smartest kid I ever had in class at that Catholic School. Father said:

I’d love to share that with my little brother and our parents, but unfortunately, I can’t discuss anything from the confessional, but thank you so much.
So even casual conversation which had nothing to do with confession was off the table according to this confessor.

Peace!
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
That’s still not allowed. As far as the priest is concerned, he can’t even acknowledge that he heard the penitent’s confession. .
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That part is not actually true. He can certainly acknowledge that he heard a person’s confession. It is the contents of that confession that are under the seal.
 
pianistclare said:
. As I was about to leave, I mentioned that his brother was the smartest kid I ever had in class at that Catholic School. Father said:

I’d love to share that with my little brother and our parents, but unfortunately, I can’t discuss anything from the confessional, but thank you so much.
So even casual conversation which had nothing to do with confession was off the table according to this confessor.

Peace!
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To a certain extent. If you have mentioned that that information was outside the confessional boundries, it is ‘fair game’

There have been several times during confession that I mentioned to my pastor, “When we are done, I would like to tell you about…” After Father gave the absolution and stated 'go in peace", I said, “Now can I tell you about…” and we discussed non confessional material. That is information that could certainly be shared as much as if it was discussed in the parish hall.
 
thistle said:
If a priest asks a person who has confessed if he may discuss with that penitent something mentioned in Confession the penitent may give such permission but assuming the penitent gives permission such discussion is confined to the priest and the penitent. The priest may not reveal that to any other party.
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Correct. 👍
 
Brendan said:
To a certain extent. If you have mentioned that that information was outside the confessional boundries, it is ‘fair game’

There have been several times during confession that I mentioned to my pastor, “When we are done, I would like to tell you about…” After Father gave the absolution and stated 'go in peace", I said, “Now can I tell you about…” and we discussed non confessional material. That is information that could certainly be shared as much as if it was discussed in the parish hall.
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Yeah. That’s not what I was talking about.
 
Neofight said:
There is no need for a penitent to ask a priest to break the seal, when they can make a public confession outside the sacrament, on their own.
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My question was motivated by a television portrayal of King Henry-8’s attempts to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Catherine had been formerly married to Henry’s brother, but she claimed that marriage was never consummated (and this claim was common knowledge). But she claimed this again during Confession, and gave the priest (a Cardinal, actually) permission to relate her statement, with the idea that someone has a greater obligation for honesty in the Confessional, and her claim might thus be more credible.

I didn’t think she could actually do that (and the Cardinal didn’t actually do it in the program), but I could not recall any actual Church teaching. And, so far, I haven’t seen anything cited.
 
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