Does having a priest's permission justify what one does?

[Tabitha1]

In the mid-1950s my mother got permission from a priest to have her tubes tied when my youngest brother was born. The belief was that because she was going through menopause it was allowed. Did that permission make it not a sin?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Having a priest’s permission to do something the Church teaches is immoral does not make the action moral. It can however mitigate culpability for sin if the person is trying to do the right thing and honestly believes the priest is correct. On the priest’s end, although it is puzzling that a priest would not be better educated in the matter in question, it is possible an honest lack of knowledge might mitigate his own culpability for giving permission for direct sterilization, something the Church condemns.