Aviso, I share your desire to follow the faith to the very best of our abilities, and take the matters of faith deep into our hearts and to live them in the fullest way possible for each and every person. But it IS Christ there with us in the Confessional, not the priest-we KNOW this to be the Reality of Confession. Technically, yes, speech IS primarily how we communicate to those outside of ourselves. But I can imagine a couple of scenarios where speech as the only form of communication might be both impossible, and yes, even unnecessary in the Confessional. 1) I'm an English-only American in Italy, in the Confessional with a village priest who speaks only Italian. I am confessing with words unintelligible to the priest. He has no idea what I'm saying. He cannot give me counsel because I don't understand Italian. Can he not give me absolution and have I not made a true and authentic confession? If so I can only travel to English-speaking countries in this life, because if I can't make a valid Confession wherever I am on earth, forget it. 2) I have been away from Confession. I have been away from my beloved Eucharist, from my Savior, from my God. I have heavy, paralyzing, cancerous mortal sin(s) on my conscience. To me it is the greatest source of agony and shame in my life and it fills me with such self-loathing, I have, up to this point in time, been physically and emotionally unable to get myself before a priest to confess until now. And now that I have done that, the weight of the shame and remorse and self-disgust renders me mute. I try and try to speak, but no words come. This sin is black and oppressive in my mind and heart, it's the only image in my heart at this moment, but I just cannot say it out loud. I am overcome. I look at the priest, I want to but I can't get the words out. Maybe I got all the rest out, but this one, last burgeoning sin I cannot put words to. I've been screaming this sin in my mind to Jesus the entire time, but the words do not escape my lips. I am not WANTING to hold back, but I am paralyzed. Is my Confession invalid? Can I not receive absolution in this case? I'm just trying to imagine Christ reacting to this and saying, "Speak!"....nothing...."SAY it!!"....nothing...."I cannot help you if you do not say it!"....nothing..."Say. The. Words!" I cannot see Our Lord reacting like that. I can see the tenderness in His face as He watches me struggle. I can feel Him touch my hunched shoulders and I can feel the warmth of His embrace as I sob. THAT is the reality of the person who sits with us all in Confession. The first example is pretty straightforward, the second example is probably more common, but of course most people are able to speak the words of their sins. This is life and death. Let's do all we can to help each other avoid getting snagged by the possible thorns of the structures of our Faith. Confession is there to heal our souls, and that is, in reality, a soul-to-soul communication.
I do apologize, my entire post was very sloppy. In my zeal to get my thoughts across, I quoted out of chronology and incompletely. I PROMISE you, however, that I was not intentionally misrepresenting what the Pope said.
I've discussed this with a priest and the priest can only forgive the sins orally confessed and auricularly heard (with exceptions of things like sign language or writing down the sins etc.) Furthermore to a certain degree he can tell whether there is contrition based on the recitation of the sins and act of contrition. Priests are to withhold absolution in some cases where there is no firm purpose of amendment. Ask any priest, they cannot absolve just because someone walks in the door of the confessional. In fact some penitents purposely skip the most embarrassing sins. If sins were routinely forgiven simply because the penitent walked in the door of the confessional (and exceptions lately eventually become the rule, not the exception), why would anyone confess their sins orally to the priest as instructed by the Church?
Thanks Brian, that's very cut (severed) and dried (desiccated). I'm not talking about people who are intentionally skipping embarrassing sins, and neither is the Pope. And regarding auricularly, would weeping and sobbing fall under that?
The clear teachings of the Church are not severed and desiccated. They are the means Christ has lead the Church to through His promise to send the Holy Spirit and to give the Church the authority to lose and bind. These are not Pharisaical man made laws that can be arbitrarily abandoned by Churchmen on a whim because they think they know better than the 2000 year history of the Church. In fact we must beware anyone who thinks their agenda trumps Church Tradition. Furthermore if a penitent can be forgiven just by entering the confessional, why not then just by entering the Church building?!? This is a direct attempt IMO to return to the forbidden (except in emergency) practice of General Absolution.
Dear HomeSchoolMom, no need for any apo Dear HomeSchoolMama, about the indicated cases (languages), the Church also planned these cases, called "Ecclesia supplet" which are Latin words meaning "The Church supplies for my deficiency.", Canon Law also refers to these situations and provides that a translator can be used (Can. 983 and Can. 990), those are exceptional cases but took into account by the Fathers of the Church as well as I share your opinion that we have to help each other, thank you. Aviso
I honestly do not disagree, and I am a lover of Church Tradition and take great comfort in being bound by the authority of the Church. And while the Church has not formally declared an emergency, we are in seemingly historic, tumultuous times and much mercy and grace is needed to bring the brotherhood of man into the arms of our Mother Church. I pray for God to draw us to Himself in every possible way, most especially through the Holy Sacraments of His Church.
Trying to figure out how the Pope got so chummy with Bonino and her cohorts, I came across this letter he wrote in response to a letter that Scalfari had published in La Republica newspaper: https://w2.vatican.va/content/franc...papa-francesco_20130911_eugenio-scalfari.html Given that the Pope says he doesn't read the newspapers, I'm getting the impression that someone brought Scalfari's piece to his attention and that the Holy Father's response was a reaching out in charity. That was the right thing to do. We all are called to reach out to unbelievers, even the Pope. What I can't shake off is a suspicion that it was all a set-up by masonic influences inside the Vatican and close to the Holy Father - by people who couldn't manipulate Pope Benedict and are taking advantage of this Pope who is an intellectual lightweight in comparison to his predecessor.
Update: This pope can kneel and genuflect after all. Does Francis Only Kneel in Anglican Shrines? 9 hours ago During his Saturday trip to Fatima, Pope Francis did not kneel, not even in front of the Blessed Sacrament, although a kneeler was available. However, when he visited the Anglican Shrine of the so-called Ugandan Martyrs in Namugongo, Uganda, on November 28, 2015, he used a kneeler in front of him and knelt for a long time, although the Anglican martyrs are not canonized. View attachment 6416
Despite standing for Adoration at Fatima this past weekend: View attachment 6419 This photo appeared with a pointed caption this weekend on Facebook: "Down in front!"
He sometimes makes special effort to kneel but he suffers from sciatica, so it is probably pretty painful for him to kneel sometimes. Here are hundreds of pictures of the pope kneeling, also before the blessed sacrament: https://www.google.com/search?q=pop...ved=0ahUKEwiZ8PC08PTTAhWpwFQKHYdBBKEQ_AUICigB Here are some news on his knee and sciatica isssues: "The Pope suffers from sciatica -- pain, tingling, numbness and weakness down the back of the leg -- caused by injury or pressure on the sciatic nerve, the UK Star says." Read more: https://www.tuko.co.ke/69578-pope-francis-trips-on-american-plane.html https://catholic4lifeblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/the-truth-about-the-health-of-pope-bergoglio/
The vast majority of those pictures appeared on Google search engines to quell this topic AFTER noted Catholic journalists started raising this question about 18-24 months ago. (I know because I and others searched in depth.) Some of the earliest that appeared weren't even of him in front of the Eucharist but made to look that way by montage. (I know because I and others located the original photos used to create the montage - or photoshop - versions.) If this was early in his papacy one could make this argument but after 4 years of this - not genuflecting at the Consecration or kneeling for Adoration - it's not credible. There are far too many photos of him kneeling to wash Muslim women's feet on Holy Thursday and prolonged periods of kneeling at ecumenical programs to credibly make this case.
