Hi puzzleannie,
I don’t understand title of the thread
if you intentionally withheld sins in confession, that confession is invalid, as well as being itself a mortal sin of sacrilege, and both must be confessed at the earliest opportunity.
I think the title refers to the situation described later in the OP’s post: forgetting a mortal sin and hence not confessing it, recalling the mortal sin later, and then intentionally not confessing the once forgotten sin.
There is no requirement to confess them when recalled
I was under the impression that there was a requirement. The obligation stems from Divine law, but is also codified in Canon Law 988: The faithful are bound to confess, in kind and in number, all grave sins committed after baptism, of which after careful examination of conscience they are aware, which have not yet been directly pardoned by the keys of the Church, and which have not been confessed in an individual confession
We can find this principle in St. Thomas’ Summa, when he regarding
forgotten mortal sins:. . .he is bound to confess the sin when he calls it to mind. (Supplement, 10, 5, reply obj. 3)
The same is found in the
Catechism of the Council of Trent, discussing forgotten sins:But should the confession seem defective, either because the penitent forgot some grievous sins, or because, although intent on confessing all his sins, he did not examine the recesses of his conscience with sufficient accuracy, he is not bound to repeat his confession. It will be sufficient, when he recollects the sins which he had forgotten, to confess them to a priest on a future occasion.
Here is the Catholic Encyclopedia on the
topic:If, however, the sin be omitted, not through any fault of the penitent, but through forgetfulness, it is forgiven indirectly; but it must be declared at the next confession and thus submitted to the power of the keys.
As you point out, however, there may be some pastoral qualifications, especially if one were prone to scrupulosity. In general, I would note that the obligation is to confess what you
actually recall, not an obligation to recall everything. In other words, one does not have to incessantly strive to recall anything forgotten, to the point of obsession. It is assumed that a good examination of conscience is sufficient. But, if one
does happen to recall a mortal sin at some point, it would seem one is bound to confess it. So, at that point “intentionally withholding a (once) forgotten mortal sin” would be wrong.
Any thoughts? Am I under a false impression that one is obligated to confess forgotten mortal sins if remembered?
Thank you!
VC
