Was my confession valid?

[helec338]

So I had my first confession in about 10 years since coming back to the faith yesterday. The priest I met with was very nice, but he said something that left me wondering. When I told him that I had a list of sins of kind and number he said don’t worry about it that I was being scrupulous.

Nevertheless I read off my sins and at the end he gave me advice and then absolved me in the following way “I absolve you of all your sins that you have confessed to me, including any listed on that paper, any that you have forgotten, and any that you may have withheld.”

So can a priest forgive sins that I withhold from him???

Also he mentioned to me that there are so many old ladies that come to him to confess that they want to see Fidel Castro dead (I live in Miami by the way) and that he would tell them that they don’t want him dead, they want his regime to fall. My point here is that…isn’t the priest not supposed to reveal the content of confessions to others? Even if he was just trying to be funny with me to relate to me?

 

[Jack007]

1 your confession is valid.

2 confession of all mortal sins is the matter of confession, a priest cannot absolve withheld sins.

3 if a priest breaks the seal of confession, he has to answer to rome.

 

[St_Francis]

The priest cannot absolve deliberately withheld mortal sins. If you did not deliberately withhold any mortal sins, then your confession is valid.

It would have been wrong of the priest to say, Oh, you know Mrs Sanchez and Mrs Guiterrez confess wanting Castro dead every week… but just saying that something is confessed to him without naming names is not breaking the seal of confession if there is no other way of identifying them.

He is doing people a disservice if he tells them he absolves their withheld sins, and this may be something you want to do something about.

 

[Jack007]

The priest cannot absolve deliberately withheld mortal sins. If you did not deliberately withhold any mortal sins, then your confession is valid.

It would have been wrong of the priest to say, Oh, you know Mrs Sanchez and Mrs Guiterrez confess wanting Castro dead every week… but just saying that something is confessed to him without naming names is not breaking the seal of confession if there is no other way of identifying them.

He is doing people a disservice if he tells them he absolves their withheld sins, and this may be something you want to do something about.

yes. next time you meet the priest,tell him this.

 

[fencersmother]

I think your priest, in divulging that some people wish Castro dead (ok, I could be among that throng) and confess it, is for your illumination.

 

[Rob_Arnzen]

So can a priest forgive sins that I withhold from him???

Not if they are mortal and you deliberately withheld them.

If you didn’t don’t worry about it. He was trying to be “pastoral” in a misguided way.

As to the old ladies, unless he gave you information which allowed you to identify a particular old lady, he has done nothing wrong.

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