OBOWIĄZKI PREZBITERA JAKO SPOWIEDNIKA
THE OBLIGATIONS OF PRIESTS AS CONFESSORS

Summary/Abstract: Can 965 CIC states that only a priest is the minister of the sacrament of penance. A sacerdotal character and faculty is necessary to administer validly the sacrament of penance. Every priest should aim to give an opportunity to faithful people that they successfully benefit from going to confession. A priest is obliged to take care of his own spiritual and intellectual growth, and in exercising his ministry he must adhere faithfully to the doctrine of the Magisterium, but he should remember that the imposition of a penance by the confessor must be individualised. The confessor is to impose salutary and appropriate penances in proportion to the kind and matter of sin confessed, taking into account the condition of the penitent. He should be especially sensitive to those people who by being in ecclesiastical suspense cannot receive a sacramental absolution. He should also be available to minister to people from other churches which do not have full unity with the Catholic Church. It should be in the situations provided by the law. Finally the priest is obliged to observe the secrecy of the confessional, which no one can release him from – the sacramental seal is inviolable.

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