Necessary Roughness

FOX News reports that an Italian reporter had visited 24 confessionals, posing as different people to see how the priests’ advice differeed regarding condum use, drug addiction, and new love for a divorcee. He published the results in an Italian magazine.

He found priests did deviate from church law. For example, two priests offered varied advice to Bocca when he said he was an HIV-positive man wondering if he should use a condom with his girlfriend.

One priest followed church teaching and told him not to use a condom, and the other, a priest in Turin, said it was a matter of conscience.

According to the Catholic News Service, the Vatican newspaper found Bocca’s article exploited the good faith of confessors and offended the religious sentiments of millions of people.

First, this deviation from teaching was not a public sin. I tried reading the magazine article with Google Translate, and I didn’t see if the reporter verified with the priest that this deviated from doctrine. That should have been done. If the priest still kept his opinion, the reporter should have followed the advice in Matthew 18, bringing witnesses and then bringing it to the attention of the church. The exposure was not proper.

Secondly and more importantly, the Roman Catholic church is right to condemn this action because it attacks the confession and absolution that God has ordained. Priests/pastors should not have to doubt whether the penitent is telling the truth. If the priest is absolving sins that didn’t happen, his (and Christ’s) absolution is mocked. This is an even worse sin than a priest’s bad advice. Credibility and trust in the confessional is crucial, indeed.

There should be quality control, but it should come from the church. The Vatican should try to reestablish some credibility in its clergy and assure that the offending priests will be reminded of proper doctrine and dealt with accordingly with the church’s proper order. The journalist should confess his real and grave faults and work to improve the reputation of the Church.