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Mia1
Guest
Should I still confess the sins I have forgotten and Didn’t know it was a sin before?
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Michael16
Guest
I would. Just to be on the safe side.
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UpUpAndAway
Guest
Welcome to CAF. 
I don’t know how one would go about confessing forgotten sins. You can’t confess things you don’t remember.
Sin is a deliberate act. If you genuinely did not know at the time you did something that it was wrong to do it, it’s not a sin.
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Wesrock
Guest
Please ask your confessor. Without knowing you or your sins (please don’t say them here) I can’t tell you if it would be beneficial or not.
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halogirl
Guest
If it pops into your head it means it’s still bothering you so just explain that to the priest xx
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Mia1
Guest
Oh ok. Thank you
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Major
Guest
Do you ask about sins you had forgotten at time of the confession but haverecollected latter? Technically speaking they are also forgiven as you honestly completed confession and was given absolution. Of course to be “on the safe side” as Michael had wrote, you can tell them at the next confession, it will also give priest better overview to give you proper teaching and penance.
You have not sinned then. However it may be good to talk about it with priest as:
- Sometimes you may be guilty of this ignorance
- Even if you have not sinned you commited some evil, and it may be just thing to do some penance for that
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CRV
Guest
Agree with other posters.
Depending on the cause of your ignorance it may or may not be a sin. For your peace of conscience I suggest mentioning it in confession. “Father in the past I have done X, but didn’t know it was a sin - have I incurred any guilt?” Depending on the gravity of the sin, it is possible you may still have sinned, but lacking the knowledge reduces it to venial.
Mortal sin (grave matter + full knowledge + full consent).
IV. ERRONEOUS JUDGMENT
1790 " … Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed. "
1791 "This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man "takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin.“59 In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.”
1793 “If - on the contrary - the ignorance is invincible, or the moral subject is not responsible for his erroneous judgment, the evil committed by the person cannot be imputed to him. It remains no less an evil, a privation, a disorder. …”
And there are some sins that are always gravely evil -
The Morality of Human Acts
The Understanding of Moral Acts
Sins that you’ve forgotten, if and when you recall them ie any Mortal Sins,(and are sure you have not already confessed them) are forgiven but the obligation to mention them in your next confession remains. (All sins are placed before God at the time of our confession - both mortal and venial.)
Depending on the cause of your ignorance it may or may not be a sin. For your peace of conscience I suggest mentioning it in confession. “Father in the past I have done X, but didn’t know it was a sin - have I incurred any guilt?” Depending on the gravity of the sin, it is possible you may still have sinned, but lacking the knowledge reduces it to venial.
Mortal sin (grave matter + full knowledge + full consent).
IV. ERRONEOUS JUDGMENT
1790 " … Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed. "
1791 "This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man "takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin.“59 In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.”
1793 “If - on the contrary - the ignorance is invincible, or the moral subject is not responsible for his erroneous judgment, the evil committed by the person cannot be imputed to him. It remains no less an evil, a privation, a disorder. …”
And there are some sins that are always gravely evil -
The Morality of Human Acts
The Understanding of Moral Acts
Sins that you’ve forgotten, if and when you recall them ie any Mortal Sins,(and are sure you have not already confessed them) are forgiven but the obligation to mention them in your next confession remains. (All sins are placed before God at the time of our confession - both mortal and venial.)
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newconvertcatholic
Guest
It would depend if the sins are venial or mortal. If they are mortal, you should ideally confess them if you have remembered them after your confession. In your case, it is in the worst of the cases a venial sin, but probably no sin at all, if there was no deliberate intention as @UpUpAndAway said.
If you didn’t know it was a sin, it is definitely not a mortal sin even if the issue in question was grave. All venial sins are forgiven in the Eucharist, so do go to mass and receive holy communion. As others have said, if the sin keeps popping into your head, maybe God wants you talk to a priest about it for your own spiritual good. In any case it is good practice to take it to confession, since we here at CAF don’t have all the details and only a priest in a confession should be hearing your sins.
Welcome to CAF!
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CRV
Guest
Further to my point above -
Catechism of the Catholic Church #2370
"2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.158 These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil:159
Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.160 "
159 HUMANAE VITAE #14
160 Familaris Consortio #32
CCC #1756 " It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context. There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder and adultery. One may not do evil so that good may result from it." (Bold and Italics are mine).
continued below:-
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CRV
Guest
continuing on:-
CCC # 2356 " Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them."
So these examples are things which is the “matter” component when determining if something is a mortal sin are in themselves always grave. So for a sin to be mortal, in addition to this “matter” one would also have to have full knowledge that it is such at the time of acting (not afterwards acquiring the knowledge), plus full consent.
As an example, detraction can be either venial or mortal - depending on what was revealed as this is the “matter” component. Revealing someone spoke rudely to you (venial matter), compared to revealing this same someone committed murder (grave matter). There is more to detraction, but as I am trying to show the difference wrt to matter in making the distinction between mortal and venial sin I won’t elaborate further.
Just because you later learn that something is a mortal sin (grave matter + full knowledge + full consent) does not make it retroactively a mortal sin - due to the simple fact you did not know it was such at the time of acting.
CCC # 2356 " Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them."
So these examples are things which is the “matter” component when determining if something is a mortal sin are in themselves always grave. So for a sin to be mortal, in addition to this “matter” one would also have to have full knowledge that it is such at the time of acting (not afterwards acquiring the knowledge), plus full consent.
As an example, detraction can be either venial or mortal - depending on what was revealed as this is the “matter” component. Revealing someone spoke rudely to you (venial matter), compared to revealing this same someone committed murder (grave matter). There is more to detraction, but as I am trying to show the difference wrt to matter in making the distinction between mortal and venial sin I won’t elaborate further.
Just because you later learn that something is a mortal sin (grave matter + full knowledge + full consent) does not make it retroactively a mortal sin - due to the simple fact you did not know it was such at the time of acting.
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Mia1
Guest
Thank you so much everyone
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CRV
Guest
Sorry for my long posts and all the info therein.
Not knowing exactly what sins you have in mind, the best advice to give you is to go to confession, mention any forgotten past sins which you’ve now remembered and leave the gravity of these in Gods hands.
Apply any new knowledge you’ve now obtained to your life from this point on, and let this guide you in your actions and decisions.
Your parish priest is the best person to whom to speak with as you can tell him the specific sins, whereas you can’t and shouldn’t here - thus in some ways we here are very limited in any advice we give you.
Continue to learn and study the Faith and increase your knowledge and understanding.
Not knowing exactly what sins you have in mind, the best advice to give you is to go to confession, mention any forgotten past sins which you’ve now remembered and leave the gravity of these in Gods hands.
Apply any new knowledge you’ve now obtained to your life from this point on, and let this guide you in your actions and decisions.
Your parish priest is the best person to whom to speak with as you can tell him the specific sins, whereas you can’t and shouldn’t here - thus in some ways we here are very limited in any advice we give you.
Continue to learn and study the Faith and increase your knowledge and understanding.
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Mia1
Guest
Thank You 
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CRV
Guest
Thanks for mentioning that - apart from my advice in my first reply, you are correct. Another thing is to confess your current sins ie ones committed since your last good confession FIRST, then any past forgotten sins.
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