Folia Canonica 10. (2007)
STUDIES - Péter Artner: The Canonical Protection of the Dignity of the Sacrament of Penance in the Penal Law
90 PETER ARTNER pendent of it, the appearance of confession is an offence against this canon, too.5 A sin against the confession can be all misdeeds previously mentioned. Soliciting is inducing of committing impure things (turpia) “with words, signs gestures fondling or with written materials given to the penitent to read on the spot or later, or by holding conversation and making plans which are illicit or immoral.”6 Soliciting is, when the confessor tries to seduce the penitent for himself or for a third party, but only the penitent. It is not an offence against this canon if the confessor tries to seduce no the penitent but a third person; but the offence happens independently of the result, this means the confessor incurs the penalty in that case, independently of the answer of the penitent, whether he/she succumbs to the temptation or not. It is evident from the text, that this offence can be committed only by a priest, but not by a person who admitting hearing confession tries to take advantage of the situation. The punishment can be complex, suspension, prohibitions, or privations, not excluded in graver cases the dismissal from the clerical state. 2. False Denunciation In the previous Code (c. 904) it was obligatory for the penitent to denounce the confessor within 30 days, who offended the above mentioned delict. In the present law it is only a moral obligation. Without a denunciation the priest would remain unpunished, because the offence would never come to light. Anyone can report this offence, not only the seduced.7 There is no stipulated form of the denunciation, it can be oral, written etc. However, not only the rights of the victim are to be protected but the rights of the innocently accused priest, already the former law has penalized the false denunciation, and so does the present Code. It can be expected, because c. 220 is protecting the good reputation of all Christian faithful. The false denunciation of the penal offence mentioned in c. 1387 is not only a criminal act (c. 1390), but a sin (c. 982). This was the only reserved sin in the old Code, but in the current discipline, the reservation of sins has been abolished. The c. 982 prescribes, that the penitent, who confesses that he/she has denounced falsely an innocent confessoris ”ne absolvatur, nisi... - is not to be absolved unless... ” he/she has to first formally retract the false denunciation and is prepared 5 A. Mendonca, The Sacrament of Reconciliation, Ottawa, 1984, 143 6 Const. Sacr. Paen. Cited: O’REILLY, Sanctions in the Church, Ottawa, 1995, 148 7W. H. WOESTMAN, Ecclesiastical Sanctions and the Penal Process, Ottawa, 2003, 141
