'I Forgive you...' v 'I Absolve you...'

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Hi Betsy–no, I checked that later, and I’m almost positive I never heard the “I absolve you.” Thoughts? I don’t know what to do…at this point I can’t remember what sins I confessed, and I’m pretty sure there was a potentially serious one in there…

Also, our other priest routinely says the “May God forgive you” in place of the “I absolve you.” I avoided him for this reason, and lo and behold our other priest did the same thing (he’s never done it before).

I’m getting really frustrated…what if they didn’t get the words of consecration right (fortunately they do that right)?

Is the sacrament of reconciliation different in terms of form than baptism and Holy Communion, where the exact words matter? I really need to know, and don’t know who to ask.
 
I’m fairly certain that the words, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” are necessary for validity.

I’m also fairly certain (on my own - no official pronouncement here) that God will not hold against you the fact that the priest said the wrong words. You did your part - you confessed your sins with sorrow to a priest. If you get hit by a bus before you clear this up, I think you’ll be OK. (Again, opinion only here.) God is not out to get you on a technicality - He loves you.

For your own peace of mind, I offer two suggestions. First, is there another parish within a reasonable distance where you could go and confess the potentially serious sin again and receive a proper absolution? And second, go to the Ask An Apologist forum here and ask, specifying that you would like Fr. Serpa to answer.

Betsy
 
Betsy–thank you so much for your very comforting advice and kind words. I think I may ask Fr. Serpa tomorrow–that’s a good idea.

After writing my earlier post, I’d been wondering if maybe I’m okay because the sacrament of reconciliation has taken different forms historically, and the Byzantine Catholic tradition has words similar to “May God forgive you” in there. And the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, by contrast, have specific words, straight from our Lord and in Scripture. But that’s just speculation–I probably do need to ask. I’m too intimidated to ask our own priests at this time. The nearest parish is about an hour away, but I could go there for confession pretty easily, and just explain what happened–that’s a good idea. The problem is I’ve forgotten the relevant sins! I can only hope that means they were really venial.

God bless you for your kind response.

🙂
 
Luvadoxi said:
Our priests in confession say “May God forgive you” in place of “I absolve you”. Please tell me this is still valid!
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If you are really concerned about the validity you should ask the priest you confessed to. Period.
 
Luvadoxi,

What has already been suggested is wise. You can ask the priest you confessed to. Hopefully he would remember and not just say it doesn’t matter. Also, if necessary, to calm one’s conscience, you could do your best with another confessor, saying that there seemed to be a problem with the words of absolution. A good practices for all of us is that when we are concluding our actual confession, before the priest speaks to us and gives us our penance, it is good to say something to the effect of “for these sins and all the sins of my past life, I ask pardon, absolution and a penance of you”, perhaps even adding renewed contrition for particular types of sins(against purity,gluttony, pride, etc).

By the way, in the Latin Rite of the Church, the necessary words for validity are “ego te absolvo” or I absove you. To say forgive in place of absolve is doubtful at best and must not be used.

Joe
 
Thank you everyone for all your very helpful ideas. I did go to the priest I had confessed to, and he says that he always says “I absolve you.” So…I’ve decided to take him at his word and let it go, hoping that Deus providet, even if the correct words weren’t said. It could be that I just didn’t hear them.
 
Hey…I had a first today while going to confession. When it came time for the priest to say “I absolve you of your sins…” , he instead said “I forgive you of your sins…” I know form is very important in these matters, but I am not sure if it invalidates my confession…there is a difference between absolving and forgiving…and the latter just seems like he is personally forgiving the sins instead of doing it in Persona Christi on behalf of the Universal Church. If his form invalidated my confession, must I repeat all of my sins at a subsequent confession?
 
This does not invalidate the sacrament, although it is highly illicit.
 
passus said:
This does not invalidate the sacrament, although it is highly illicit.
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Could you back this claim up with an authoritative document from Rome stating that the priest can change the approved absolution formula and still have the absolution be valid?

To the OP, the essential form of the sacrament is “Ego te absolvo”, which has been translated and approved by Rome as “I absolve you”…any form of absolution used by a priest in the Latin Church that does not contain those words should be held suspect. I highly encourage you to talk to this priest about it. Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue? Who knows. What we do know is that no priest has the right to change the wording of sacraments, and someone who goes to confession deserves an absolution that we know is valid.
 
Harrison said:
Could you back this claim up with an authoritative document from Rome stating that the priest can change the approved absolution formula and still have the absolution be valid?
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A single document on this question does not exist, however I can point to several authoritative sources who agree with me:

Fr. John Hardon, who served on the committee which drafted the Catechism of the Catholic Church from 1992 says:
…this same Jesus forgives us our sins every time we go to Confession to one of His priests and he pronounces the words, “I forgive you your sins…"
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therealpresence.org/archives/Sin/Sin_011.htm

In 2004, Jan Wakelin, a Catholic Answers Apologist, answered in the Ask an Apologist Forum:
Jan_Wakelin said:
The fact that your priests say, “You are forgiven” instead of the entire formula does not invalidate the sacrament.
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In 2005, Fr. Vincent Serpa, another Catholic Answers Apologist, answered in the Ask an Apologist Forum:
Fr.Vincent_Serpa said:
The Church is quite flexible with the words of consecration and absolution for the benefit of the faithful so long as the words convey what the Church means in each instance. So “be forgiven” and “I forgive you” instead of “I absolve you” are valid—but definitley illicit.
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Passus,

With all due respect to the sources that you cited, I do not see how they exercise any authority in this matter. They just seem to be offering their opinions. Their answers do not appear to be coming from any Curial office with competency in these matters. We are dealing with the proper form of a sacrament and someone’s sins. The original poster should at least write their diocesan bishop if they want an authoritative answer, or even the Holy See.

Edit
After looking into Fr. Hardon, I see that he was quite influential with the Catechism and a very learned man. Why does he misquote the formula for absolution in the book review? That is not what the priest is supposed to say.
 
So just to clarify, If my priest only says “I forgive…” instead of “I absolve…” and the confession is not valid, The next time I go to confession to a priest that uses the correct form ALL of my sins are forgiven, even the ones that were not vaildly confessed previously? Even if I dont happen to think to re-confess them?

I am asking because I recently entered the Church this Easter and I do not remember the priest using “I absolve…” and I am sure there were mortal sins in there that I assumed were confessed validly and I have since forgotten them. If they were not absolved the first time will ALL my sins be forgiven the next time I go to a new confessor who uses the valid form of absolution? Even if I dont happen to reconfess??
 
TravisandJill said:
So just to clarify, If my priest only says “I forgive…” instead of “I absolve…” and the confession is not valid, The next time I go to confession to a priest that uses the correct form ALL of my sins are forgiven, even the ones that were not vaildly confessed previously? Even if I dont happen to think to re-confess them?

I am asking because I recently entered the Church this Easter and I do not remember the priest using “I absolve…” and I am sure there were mortal sins in there that I assumed were confessed validly and I have since forgotten them. If they were not absolved the first time will ALL my sins be forgiven the next time I go to a new confessor who uses the valid form of absolution? Even if I dont happen to reconfess??
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God provides.

If the priest did use incorrect words I would really trust in God and the Church that the sacrament was efficacious despite whatever might have been lacking that one time.
 
TravisandJill said:
So just to clarify, If my priest only says “I forgive…” instead of “I absolve…” and the confession is not valid, The next time I go to confession to a priest that uses the correct form ALL of my sins are forgiven, even the ones that were not vaildly confessed previously? Even if I dont happen to think to re-confess them?

I am asking because I recently entered the Church this Easter and I do not remember the priest using “I absolve…” and I am sure there were mortal sins in there that I assumed were confessed validly and I have since forgotten them. If they were not absolved the first time will ALL my sins be forgiven the next time I go to a new confessor who uses the valid form of absolution? Even if I dont happen to reconfess??
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Yes.

Absolution means that we are reconciled to the Church and returned to “good standing” within the Church, so far as that is needed for each individual person: so when the priest absolves you the second time (if that’s indeed necessary)* then such absolution is complete in every way.

And remember, absolution and forgiveness are not the same thing. Forgiveness means that God Himself has remitted the sin. Absolution means that we are reconciled to the Church.

In the Sacrament of Confession, we are both forgiven and absolved. God forgives and absolves absolutely, the priest forgives and absolves ministerialy *in persona Christi *and as the minister of the Church.
  • by that I mean that “if the absolution is necessary because it was lacking in the first confession” of course, one needs to be absolved from the sins committed since the first confession and confessed in the 2nd celebration of the Sacrament.
 
Thank you! See my problem is that I don’t remember if the priest said the valid absolution or not, because my mind was on other things at the time but I only specifically remember the “May God forgive you…” part. Should I assume my confession was valid or not since I dont specifically remember the “I absolve…” part. I asked my husband and he says every time he has confessed to this priest he used “I absolve…” I just personally cannot remember those particualr words
 
Harrison said:
In the case in question, I would say that the priest did not use the proper form of words. The proper form in English is “I absolve you…”. I would say that the absolution, and, therefore the confession, was not valid.
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Many Catholics are not as scrupulous as you think, or are not well educated in regard to the exact words, uttered by priests (eg the difference between I absolve and I forgive in the case presented). But when they approached the confessional, they have every good intention to reconcile with God.

Would their confession be considered invalid because of the mistake (intentional or otherwise) of the priest?

So what if the soul confessed a mortal sin, did not see any mistake on the part of the priets and expected he was forgiven by God? If he died, would he be punished in hell because the confession he had, which he considered valid, was invalidated because of the mistake of the priest for using the “I forgive” instead of “I absolve”?
 
w_stewart said:
Many Catholics are not as scrupulous as you think, or are not well educated in regard to the exact words, uttered by priests (eg the difference between I absolve and I forgive in the case presented). But when they approached the confessional, they have every good intention to reconcile with God.

Would their confession be considered invalid because of the mistake (intentional or otherwise) of the priest?

So what if the soul confessed a mortal sin, did not see any mistake on the part of the priets and expected he was forgiven by God? If he died, would he be punished in hell because the confession he had, which he considered valid, was invalidated because of the mistake of the priest for using the “I forgive” instead of “I absolve”?
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Once again, we need to keep in mind the distinction between “forgiveness” and “absolution.”

God can forgive us at any time, and indeed He does. Even without the Sacrament of Confession, God may/might forgive even the most grievous sins–of course, there is no limit to His mercies.

However, by Divine design, we are absolved only through the ministry of a validly ordained priest with the faculty to absolve, using the necessary and essential form for validity–ego te absolvo, I absolve you.

This thread really is not a question about forgiveness, it’s a question about absolution.
 
Is it correct to say one can be forgiven without necessarily being validly absolved?
 
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