Questions & Answers
1. The confession of sins must be integral. What does it mean?
The confession is integral when the penitent confesses all the sins that must be declared.
Material integrity (objective) is the complete confession of the sins committed after baptism, with their number and species, and which still need to be submitted to the power of the keys (i.e., not yet confessed and absolved). Formal integrity (subjective) is the confession of all the sins that one can and must accuse here and now, given the circumstances, according to the judgment of one’s conscience.
2. What do we have to confess to attain this integrity?
By divine law, it is necessary to confess every mortal sin that is remembered after diligent examination of conscience, together with the circumstances that may change the species of sin.
This conclusion is of divine faith, explicitly defined. St. Thomas Aquinas explains: “The priest who hears confession acts as God. And therefore, the confession made to him must be like the confession made to God in contrition. Wherefore, just as he who did not repent of all sins would have no contrition, neither will there be confession by not accusing himself of all the sins that are remembered” (Suppl, q. 9, a. 2, ad 2um).
Therefore, by divine law, there is the obligation to confess the mortal sins, which are the necessary matter of the sacrament, and all of them, without omitting any on purpose. Otherwise, a sacrilege is committed, and absolution is not received, not even for those sins that were duly confessed since it is impossible to forgive any mortal sin without also forgiving others, for all of them are incompatible with the sanctifying grace conferred by the sacrament.
There is no obligation to confess venial sins, but it is beneficial and convenient if accused with true repentance and purpose of amendment.
It is not sufficient to confess simply the type of sin (“I committed a mortal sin”) or the general species of sin (“I have sinned against justice”), but the concrete action committed must be specified (“I have calumniated my neighbor in grave matter”).
It is not required, however, a thorough and perfect knowledge of the species of sin (as a priest or professor of moral theology). It is enough to accuse oneself sincerely in the most concrete and detailed way that is necessary to explain the true nature of the sin committed.
3. Is that all?
Not quite. The number of sins committed must also be accused. The Council of Trent explicitly states that “every one of the mortal sins committed after baptism” must be confessed.
When it is possible to mathematically specify the exact number of times a sin was committed (e.g., five), this must be done, and it is illicit to increase or decrease that number. Conscious diminution of a single unit would make the confession invalid and sacrilegious.
If the number cannot be accurately stated even after a diligent examination, the accusation must be made as close as possible, using the expression “more or less.” In practice, considering the weakness of our fallen nature, it is advisable in this case to aim at a bit higher number, though not grossly exaggerated.
If one cannot even make a rough calculation, we must ask ourselves how many times, more or less, we used to fall into that sin every day, or every week, or every month, or every year. If it is a confession of many years, it would be helpful to distinguish the main stages of it (e.g., unmarried, married, widowed), each specifying the approximate number of sins in the form just indicated.
It may happen that after the confession made in this approximate manner, the penitent were to find out the exact number of his sins or a number more approximate to that which he expressed in the confession. In that case, if the exact or approximate number is less than the one manifested in good faith, nothing has to be rectified because that smaller number is more than included in the one who already confessed. If the number subsequently ascertained is greater, it must be declared in the following confession. In practice, even if the newly found greater number is only more approximate, it is always advisable to correct it in a subsequent confession.
4. Is there anything else that must be accused in confession?
Yes, the circumstances in which the sin was committed. Cicero and St. Thomas Aquinas listed the circumstances in which a human act is performed: “Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando”—that is, “Who does it, what it is done, and where, by what aids, why, how, and when.”
This does not mean that we have to confess every concrete detail of our sinful act, but that we must confess only those circumstances that change the moral or theological species of the sin, as the Council of Trent explicitly declared.
If a particular circumstance has a special relation to the moral law, it may alter the gravity of the sin. Thus, an act morally indifferent may become good or evil according to circumstances; an act objectively good may become evil by its circumstances; and an act objectively good or evil may receive from its circumstances a new and different goodness or malice, or it may even become more good or evil because of its circumstances.
Therefore, such circumstances must be confessed because when they change the moral species of sin also multiply it numerically by collecting, in addition to its own, the malice of that circumstance that is added to him (e.g., he who steals a consecrated chalice commits a sacrilege in addition to a theft, etc.). The circumstances that change the theological species mean that the sin involved is mortal instead of venial, or vice versa (v.gr., he who steals one thousand dollars, as well as he who steals five, commit a sin of theft; but the first sins gravely and the second only venially).
However, no one can be asked to do the impossible. Thus, everyone has to accuse himself honestly and sincerely of what he thinks needs to be said. If in good faith a penitent forgets a circumstance or a detail or ignores that it is necessary to declare it explicitly, he does not sin. It is enough that he accuses in all sincerity of what his knowledge reminds him after a diligent and careful examination of conscience. If one doubts whether it would be necessary to declare this or that circumstance, a competent person or the confessor himself must be consulted to know what to expect in the future.
Two more things must be confessed: (1) the external acts that complete the sin already committed internally (for example, is not enough to say that one has had impure desires; it must also be stated if those desires have been put into practice); and (2) the foreseen evil effects that will follow a sin one has committed (for example, the blasphemies that were foreseen would be said during the voluntarily accepted drunkenness); such effects are voluntarily accepted by the mere fact of accepting their cause.
5. But what would happen if I cannot remember all these details of my past sins?
As no one is bound to do the impossible, when the material integrity of the confession is physically or morally impossible, formal integrity is required and sufficient by simply making a specific accusation of mortal sins; in exceptional circumstances, even the generic accusation of them would be sufficient.
Let us explain this point. The confession may be numerical, specific or generic. It is numerical when the penitent accuses the exact number of every sin he has committed; this constitutes material integrity. It is specific when the penitent confesses the species of sin committed but without precisions about the concrete acts (for example, “I have sinned against justice”). It is generic when the penitent accuses only the typo of sin (for example, “I have committed a mortal sin”).
The causes excusing from the material integrity of the confession are reduced to two: physical and moral impotence.
There is physical impotence when it is physically impossible to make a complete and detailed confession (e.g., extreme illness, lack of time before an imminent danger, ignorance of the language, lack of the power of speech, inculpable ignorance or forgetfulness, etc.). And there is moral impotence when full confession cannot be made without severe extrinsic damage to the penitent, to the confessor, or to a third person (e.g., the danger of violation of the sacramental seal because other people may hear the confession; the danger of scandal for the penitent, if the confessor asks for too many details; etc.)