Just curious. This came up in an RCIA class: If you made a good confession to a priest and then found out later that the person you confessed to was not, in fact, an ordained priest, would that confession be valid?
The Confession could not be valid because the person who impersonated the priest was not an ordained priest and had no power to absolve anyone from sin. The penitent was simply duped.
However, if the penitent died with a mortal sin on his soul and honestly attempted to confess his sins to a priest, the Lord would surely have mercy on him.
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