Does a Priest always have to forgive your sins?

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John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

Does a Priest always have to absolve your sins?

Is absolve and forgive the same thing?

In what instance would a Priest “…retain the sins of any…”?

I’m trying to really understand this scripture in support of the Sacrament of Reconciliation so I can help my 12 yr old daughter understand so she can defend her faith in a large Protestant family, which does happen.

I said to her that a Priest (Jesus) doesn’t always have to forgive your sins since that scripture says that. But pondering upon it, Jesus always forgives us for any sin…no sin is greater than his forgiveness.

My angle was to ask her Protestant family what that scripture means to them, and when they said that all of us are suppose to forgive others that hurt us then she’s suppose to say well what does “…retain the sins of any…” mean then? The Bible doesn’t contradict itself so if Jesus says we have to forgive others in order for us to be forgiven then “…retain the sins of any…” is a contradiction of Scripture. But that’s impossible because the Bible does not contradict itself. This special authority was given to Priests not to every person.

But I couldn’t answer her question of when does a Priest not forgive a sin. I told her I would research and get back with her.

Thank you,

Peace be with you.
 
In order to be absolved, you must have a firm purpose of amendment, that is, at the time you confess you must be sincerely sorry and not want to do it again. If you are not sorry or do not really intend to try to change your ways, the priest can with hold absolution.

For example, I confess to living with a divorced woman but tell Father that I don’t really agree with all that annulment stuff so we will continue to do so. Father can presume I do not intend to change and am not truly sorry so he will with hold absolution.

It does not happen a lot, but it can.
 
No, the priest does not always have to forgive your sins. For example, say you confessed the sin of adultery, and the priest asks, “Have you ended the affair?” You reply, “No, I’ll continue seeing her.”

Obviously forgiveness would not be possible when there is no purpose of amendment.

I understand that this sort of thing happened sometimes when confessing to Padre Pio, who had the gift of being able to read hearts.
 
I was curious about this too! because im married but not through the church** yet** (in process)], but we live together so thats like co-habiting , but im always forgiven in confession
 
journey00 said:
John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
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That is an absolutely huge IF. Our Lord made it clear that the sins of some may be held bound. See Acts 5:1-11 regarding Ananias and Saphira as evidence of that.
 
mab23 said:
I was curious about this too! because im married but not through the church** yet** (in process)], but we live together so thats like co-habiting , but im always forgiven in confession
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I can’t comment on your personal situation; that’s between you and your priest. I don’t know all the facts in your situation; your priest (presumably) does.

But objectively, a person who confesses to cohabitation (no valid, sacramental marriage) can’t be given absolution until the relationship ends or the couple agrees to live together as brother and sister. The Church can’t approve of serial fornication or adultery.
 
journey00 said:
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But I couldn’t answer her question of when does a Priest not forgive a sin. I told her I would research and get back with her.

Thank you,

Peace be with you.
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Another situation when a priest may withhold absolution is in the case of theft when the person confessing refuses to make the restitution the priest may require.
 
mab23 said:
I was curious about this too! because im married but not through the church** yet** (in process)], but we live together so thats like co-habiting , but im always forgiven in confession
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Happy news you are soon to be married in the Church! 🙂

I went through a simular situation and I was instructed that we could either live appart (which was highly impractical) or live together but as brother and sister until we were properly married in the church.

While I couldn’t recieve the Eucharist untill we were convalidated, it was possible to go to confession IF I declared to my confessor my possition that we were living as brother and sister. Otherwise it’s straight out the confessional door and right back into a state of sin.

It may be something you want to talk with your priest about, maybe you have, I don’t know but if you haven’t, it is well worth having a talk with him on the matter.

God bless you
 
Sister Anne Shields told of once routinely confessing her usual grocery list of small sins and the priest refused her absolution. He told her to go think it over and then come back with a sin that she was truly sorry for.

Her point was that we should pick one or two of our routine sins and really focus on repenting and overcoming it. Then work on the next one on our grocery list. I find it a much better approach.
 
I asked a priest that question one time during confession and he said no, the priest doesn’t always have to. Sometimes, he said, he would direct the person to go and do something specific that would show amendment, or better the situation–something like that, and then return to confession for absolution, ect. It all depended on the matter at hand.
 
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