Can you apologize for a sin without necessarily regretting it?

[Gift_from_God]

Here’s an interesting concept I’d like to get people’s opinions on. Hypothetically, let’s say a woman has sex out of marriage and gets pregnant. She gives birth and raises the child. She understand what she did was a sin but does not actually regret doing so because her child was the greatest thing to ever happen to her. Is it possible for her to reconcile with the church with this mentality?

 

[Phaedra777]

I’d say no. And I don’t mean she has to say the out of wedlock baby is bad. It’s just that she must realize that is not the way God wants children brought into the world. If she had held off until marriage to have a child, her life and her child’s would certainly be easier, if nothing else.

The baby may be the best thing that’s happened to her, but how much better would it be if the child had both a mother and a father?

 

[Balian]

Well, firstly the Church does teach that sex outside of marriage is always gravely immoral and a serious sin against God. The basic requirement for a good confession is to have the intention of returning to God with your whole heart by acknowledging your sins with true sorrow before the priest. So for the hypothetical case you offered; If the woman was not sorrowful for having had sex outside of marriage then simply confessing it would not I think be an authentic repentance and she would not receive absolution for a serious, mortal sin. I’m assuming by reconciliation you were asking could she being unrepentant receive the sacraments like the Eucharist. I don’t think so if she was not truly repentant. Yet I think it is important to add here that the child would not be the sin and she need not regret having the child in order to feel truly sorrowful about the acts that produced to the child if that makes sense.

 

[CivisRomanusSum]

I agree with the above posts. The woman must feel real sorrow and regret for her sins to be truly repentant and receive absolution. But moreover, considering the baby as the greatest thing that ever happened to her is simply acknowledging the fact that God can bring about great good even from the great evil that we may commit (such is the wonder of God). Simply put, she must with a contrite heart regret her sin and return to God and at the same time thank God for having gifted her with a child despite her fall.