Pandemic and the Right to the Sacraments
Item
Title
Pandemic and the Right to the Sacraments
Description
“In hearing confessions the priest is to remember that he is equally a judge and a physician and has been established by God as a minister of divine justice and mercy, so that he has regard for the divine honor and the salvation of souls.” Canon law dictates not just who can forgive sins, but also the place for it to occur: “The proper place to hear sacramental confessions is a church or oratory. The conference of bishops is to establish norms regarding the confessional; it is to take care, however, that there are always confessionals with a fixed grate between the penitent and the confessor in an open place so that the faithful who wish to can use them freely. Confessions are not to be heard outside a confessional without a just cause” (can. 964 §§1–2; see also can. 967 §§1–3).
Subject
Sacrament of confession, when COVID-adapted
has community
The National Catholic Bioethics Center
Spatial Coverage
Philadelphia, Pennslyvania
has denomination
Roman Catholic
Date Submitted
12/7/2020 10:27
