How much about confessions can priests talk about?

[EphelDuath]

Regarding the oath of privacy.

1. Can a priest say how often X sin is confessed to him?
2. Can a priest recount one person’s confession without using his name?
3. Can a priest recount one person’s confession, if he changes it a bit so as to be less specific?
4. Can a priest talk about a person’s confession after that person has passed away?
5. Can a priest talk about a person’s confession, if that person gives him permission to do so?
6. Can a priest use, in generic terms, to refer to a person? i.e. “this guy I knew confessed every week, and eventually, he gave up X addiction”?

I’ll ask more if I think of them.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Regarding the oath of privacy.

1. Can a priest say how often X sin is confessed to him?
2. Can a priest recount one person’s confession without using his name?
3. Can a priest recount one person’s confession, if he changes it a bit so as to be less specific?
4. Can a priest talk about a person’s confession after that person has passed away?
5. Can a priest talk about a person’s confession, if that person gives him permission to do so?
6. Can a priest use, in generic terms, to refer to a person? i.e. “this guy I knew confessed every week, and eventually, he gave up X addiction”?

I’ll ask more if I think of them.

**“No”, to all 5. He can’t even use “confessional knowledge” to preach against a sin which he knows from confessions is widespread. **​

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Nor, in speaking to a penitent, can he refer back to an earlier confession made by that penitent. The penitent is allowed to do this; then only is such reference to the past allowed.

**The Church is extremely strict in this matter. **

 

[I_Believe]

During a homily on penance one day, the priest told us of a recent confession he heard. He said an elderly lady began by informing him of her daily prayers and devotions, at which point he stopped her and said, “we are not here for your cannonization, we are here for your confession. Get on with it”.

It drew a chuckle from the pews, and though it didn’t break the seal of confession, I have to wonder how that lady may have felt if she was there at that Mass.

 

[thistle]

Regarding the oath of privacy.

1. Can a priest say how often X sin is confessed to him?
2. Can a priest recount one person’s confession without using his name?
3. Can a priest recount one person’s confession, if he changes it a bit so as to be less specific?
4. Can a priest talk about a person’s confession after that person has passed away?
5. Can a priest talk about a person’s confession, if that person gives him permission to do so?
6. Can a priest use, in generic terms, to refer to a person? i.e. “this guy I knew confessed every week, and eventually, he gave up X addiction”?

I’ll ask more if I think of them.

Can. 983 §1. The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.

Can. 984 §1. A confessor is prohibited completely from using knowledge acquired from confession to the detriment of the penitent even when any danger of revelation is excluded.

 

[LilyM]

**“No”, to all 5. He can’t even use “confessional knowledge” to preach against a sin which he knows from confessions is widespread. **​

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Nor, in speaking to a penitent, can he refer back to an earlier confession made by that penitent. The penitent is allowed to do this; then only is such reference to the past allowed.

**The Church is extremely strict in this matter. **

As Canon Law says, it’s forbidden to betray a penitent (ie by revealing anything in discussing the confession that might allow a penitent to be identified, or (I would think) identify the confession as their own).

And one cannot use information gained in the confessional to the DETRIMENT of the penitent.

I don’t see that a general discussion of matters such as how often a particular sin is confessed, or that a priest knows a case or cases where frequent confession helped penitents in battling particular sins, would in any way violate the Canons or the seal.

 

[stuart12]

Archbishop Sheen regularly spoke about in broadcasts etc confessions which he heard. he never mentioned their name but would say something like ‘a woman came to me in confession saying…’

nothing wrong with that. he did not say ‘Mrs Margaret Smith from 12 Main Street, came to me in confession and said she had an affair’…that would be betraying the penitent.

 

[puzzleannie]

many of those anecdotes about anonymous confessions are also made up for story-telling purposes to make a point, or are so common they could apply to anyone.

 

[SD_Catholic]

many of those anecdotes about anonymous confessions are also made up for story-telling purposes to make a point, or are so common they could apply to anyone.

Father Corapi has given examples like this… and I would think if it were wrong he would know it… and not do it!

SD

 

[PhilotheaZ]

During a homily on penance one day, the priest told us of a recent confession he heard. He said an elderly lady began by informing him of her daily prayers and devotions, at which point he stopped her and said, “we are not here for your cannonization, we are here for your confession. Get on with it”.

It drew a chuckle from the pews, and though it didn’t break the seal of confession, I have to wonder how that lady may have felt if she was there at that Mass.

This may have been a fictional story to illustrate a point.

 

[rayne89]

**“No”, to all 5. He can’t even use “confessional knowledge” to preach against a sin which he knows from confessions is widespread. **​

Nor, in speaking to a penitent, can he refer back to an earlier confession made by that penitent. The penitent is allowed to do this; then only is such reference to the past allowed.

**The Church is extremely strict in this matter. **

I don’t think your totally correct on this. I go to very “orthodox” parish and we hear stuff all the time like “young people often confess xxxx”, “I recently had someone during the sacrament of confession say xxxx” and these types of remarks. Anything that identifies the penitent in anyway is forbidden but a general comment about an anonymous penitent is not.

 

[FrDavid96]

Regarding the oath of privacy.

1. Can a priest say how often X sin is confessed to him?
2. Can a priest recount one person’s confession without using his name?
3. Can a priest recount one person’s confession, if he changes it a bit so as to be less specific?
4. Can a priest talk about a person’s confession after that person has passed away?
5. Can a priest talk about a person’s confession, if that person gives him permission to do so?
6. Can a priest use, in generic terms, to refer to a person? i.e. “this guy I knew confessed every week, and eventually, he gave up X addiction”?

I’ll ask more if I think of them.

Well, both no and yes. If anything a priest says has even the slightest possibility that anyone even might guess at who he’s talking about, the answer is absolutely no.

Priests may make very general statements (like saying that the sin of foul language is confessed more than murder for example), or even talk about a specific confession if there’s no possibility of revelation “I remember one confession 20 years ago” as another example. But again, there has to be not even the most remote possibility that anyone will “guess” at who he means.

Your number 4 is “yes” because the confidentiality belongs to the penitent, and the penitent is free to break it. However, a priest would have to be absolutely certain that the penitent is doing so freely and not coerced in any way by a 3rd party. Even then most priests would still hesitate to reveal what was said, so the situation would have to be pretty extreme for this to happen (extreme in the sense that the priest would have to be certain that the permission to reveal information is genuine).

At the same time, a priest who requires the counsel of another priest might speak about a confession to him, but the seal would still apply to the second priest just as much.

 

[cameron_lansing]

I and other canonists have considered that the law imposes the seal on the confessor, not the penitent, and therefore, the obligation to the seal cannot be removed by an act of the penitent.

 

[I_Believe]

This may have been a fictional story to illustrate a point.

I hope so.

 

[Joannm]

I once went to confession a few hours before a scheduled mass. After my confession the priest told me that some of what I confessed was the topic of his homily later that afternoon and that he wrote the homily earlier in the week and had no idea that I would be confessing a similar situation. He assured me that he was not talking about me. Since he is also my spiritual director I believed him and thanked him for giving me the courtesy of telling me about his homily so that I would not think he was revealing my confession.