Taking confession seriously. (News in Brief).

Rome--On May 2, the Holy Father issued a 15-page apostolic letter motu proprio (meaning that it was on the Pope's own initiative) concerning the sacrament of penance. Entitled Misericordia Dei (The Mercy of God), it is a strongly worded instruction designed to head off the "crisis in confession" which has a grip on the Church, and to provide a vigorous revitalisation of the sacrament of penance.

"I want to encourage my brother bishops and earnestly appeal to them--and through them to all priests--to undertake a vigorous revitalization of the Sacrament of Reconciliation," the Pope wrote. "We should remember that the faithful when they have the proper interior dispositions, have the right to receive personally the sacramental gift," he said. "But for the priest to know the penitent's spirit, with a view to granting or withholding absolution the faithful must confess each and every mortal sin and show they are truly sorry."

"Individual confession and absolution are the sole means by which the faithful, conscious of grave sin, are reconciled with God and the Church; only physical or moral impossibility excuses from such confession, in which case reconciliation can be obtained in other ways."

Reasons

The Holy Father said that his letter seemed especially necessary because in some places there had been a tendency to abandon individual confession and resort to general or communal absolution. He did not specify the places, but Vatican sources said that communal absolution had been used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, and the United States, as a means of bringing back groups of lapsed Catholics who felt too ashamed to admit their sins. (They should have added Quebec, Canada).

At the press conference, Cardinal Ratzinger said the duty to personally confess one's sins was instituted by Christ "and even obligates the Pope." He added that the incorrect use of general absolution was partly to blame for the general crisis facing the sacrament of penance today.

According to Church law, exceptions for general absolution are allowed only in cases of imminent danger of death or grave necessity, as determined by the local bishops. It can be used, for example during disasters, in battlefield situations, or in areas where it would be difficult to hold individual confessions because of political or social conditions.

Msgr. Peter Schonenbach, general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that many dioceses in the North, fall into a very special category: in some northern dioceses one priest serves several parishes, and he does not have enough time for individual confessions. At the same time, he said, the papal directive may cause some rethinking about general absolution in several areas, especially in Quebec. A Jubilee Year experiment in general confession and general absolution in Montreal, an experiment launched by Cardinal Turcotte, was a failure: the faithful showed that they did not like this way of celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Mancini, Vicar General for the English in the diocese, said, "We must listen to the voice of the Holy Father and follow his instructions" (Text from Zenit, May 2/02).