After abuse report, French bishops issue new confession guidelines

Rejecting any notion of 'conditional absolution' the bishops said that the sacrament 'does not exonerate the penitent from answering for his acts'

The bishops of France approved new guidelines for confession at their fall plenary assembly in Lourdes.

© Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

The bishops voted in favor of the five-page document at their Nov. 5-10 meeting, three years after a landmark abuse report urged them to “issue precise directives to confessors regarding the seal of confession.”

The new “Guidelines for confessors” said: “If a priest hears, in the context of confession, a person who is the victim of a sexual offense or crime, a minor, a vulnerable person, or even an adult, he will deploy — while maintaining absolute secrecy — his pastoral sensitivity to find out if the penitent has already been able to confide these facts to another person in whom he trusts.” 

“If this is not the case, the confessor will strongly encourage him to do so.”

The document asked confessors to be prepared for such situations by knowing the French helpline numbers for children and adults at risk.

“In his listening and his speaking, the confessor will be very attentive to victims’ propensity to feel unduly guilty,” it added.

The text also addressed the granting of absolution to penitents who have confessed to crimes, even the most serious crimes.

It said: “There is no such thing as ‘conditional’ absolution, whatever the nature of the ‘condition.’ Absolution depends on the contrition and confession expressed during the sacramental encounter.”

But the document insisted that “absolution does not exonerate the penitent from answering for his acts and their consequences.”

It said: “In certain cases, and without refusing to give absolution, the confessor points out that its effectiveness requires an act of reparation to the victims, which normally involves him. As an act of reparation, he may suggest that the penitent denounce himself to the civil or ecclesiastical authorities.”

Fr. James Bradley, assistant professor a the School of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., told The Pillar Nov. 12 that “we often hear people speak about conditional sacraments. For instance, if there is doubt about the validity of a person’s baptism that person may be conditionally baptized.” 

“Any condition applied to the sacraments, though, has to relate to some doubt of fact or uncertain condition of the person, not a ‘condition’ in the sense of a suspension of the effect of the sacrament based on some future action.”

“So it is not possible, for instance, to place a condition on absolution suspending the effect of the sacrament until the penitent turns his or her self in to the authorities.”

Fr. Bradley added: “The confessor may grant absolution to a penitent who confesses even grave sins and crimes, under the usual conditions. In giving salutary advice to the penitent, the confessor may encourage him or her to make some act of reparation for their sins, which may even involve the confessor counseling the penitent to turn his or her self in to the civil authorities.”

“This, however, could not be a condition for absolution, nor could the confessor require the penitent to do this; the confessor can only counsel the penitent as part of the spiritual advice he gives regarding amendment of life.”

The new document also suggested a range of measures intended to reduce the likelihood of safeguarding violations during confessions.

It said the sacrament of reconciliation should not be celebrated in “private or intimate place,” such as a priest’s home, but rather in public places of worship, with the exception of visits to the sick.

It cautioned against offering confessions “in an overly emotional context,” especially in situations involving young people.

It asked priests to ensure that confessions were not “prolonged excessively,” becoming a form of spiritual accompaniment.  

The bishops also approved a three-page “Charter for spiritual accompaniment” at their plenary assembly.

The bishops’ conference said that France’s bishops would publish confession guidelines in their dioceses in 2025, based on the new “Guidelines for confessors.”

Following the 2021 final report by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (CIASE) — which estimated that 330,000 children were abused in the Catholic Church in France between 1950 and 2020 — the bishops established nine working groups composed of lay people and clergy. One of the groups was dedicated to “confession and spiritual accompaniment.” 

The groups presented proposals to the bishops at their March 2023 plenary assembly.

The CIASE report urged the bishops to “communicate a clear message” that “the seal of confession cannot derogate from the obligation laid down by law and the [French] criminal code … to report to the judicial and administrative authorities all cases of sexual violence inflicted on a child or a vulnerable person.”

Bishops’ conference president Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort clashed with French secular authorities in October 2021, in the immediate aftermath of the CIASE report, when he said in an interview that the seal of confession was “stronger than the laws of the Republic.” 

France has a mandatory reporting law that includes sanctions for failing to report a crime. 

Responding to the archbishop’s remarks, the then French government spokesman Gabriel Attal insisted “there is nothing stronger than the laws of the Republic in our country.” 

Moulins-Beaufort was invited to a meeting with France’s then interior minister Gérald Darmanin.

In a statement after the meeting, the bishops’ conference said: “Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort was able to discuss with Gérald Darmanin the clumsy wording of his answer on France Info last Wednesday morning.”

“For us Christians, faith appeals to the conscience of each individual, calling us to seek the good relentlessly, which cannot be done without respecting the laws of our country,” it said.

“The scale of the sexual violence and assaults on minors revealed by the CIASE report requires the Church to re-examine its practices in the light of this reality. Work is therefore needed to reconcile the nature of confession with the need to protect children.”