More On That 1962 "Smoking Gun"

Bill Cork blogs, yesterday, the links to two other articles in the Catholic press on the 1962 document about proceedings concerning solicitation in the confessional, both dated Aug. 7: Vatican official says 1962 norms on solicitation no longer apply and (the somewhat inappropriately entitled) 1962 document orders secrecy in sex cases. The latter cites the document as Crimen Sollicitationis rather than Criminale Solicitationes.

Alas, the former article seems to be in error here:

.... Even a priest guilty of attempting to solicit sex from a penitent is "burdened seriously in conscience" to inform his victim that he or she has 30 days to report the incident to the bishop or face excommunication, the 1962 document said....

As I have mentioned before, a confessor is obliged to inform a penitent of this obligation when he finds out that another priest ("obviously", I said) has solicited in the confessional. Woywod & Smith write at length about this situation:

The crime of solicitation is certainly a horrible abuse of the priestly office and a sacrilege which throws doubt on the very faith of the priest. If a confessor has a penitent who claims to have been solicited by another priest in connection with confession, the priest must carefully question the person, and it is advisable not to decide at once but have the person come again for crossexamination to make certain that the penitent is absolutely truthful. If the case is certain, the priest is bound to tell the penitent of the duty to denounce the priest to the bishop. Any penitent who does not obey, incurs excommunication not reserved, but cannot be absolved until after the obligation of denouncing the priest has been satisfied, or a faithful promise given that the denunciation will be made. The priest who solicited a penitent to a sin of impurity in connection with confession does not fall into any censure ipso facto, but Canon 2368 prescribes the penalties which are to be imposed, and which he cannot escape, if the penitent obeys the law of the Church and denounces the priest. (A Practical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, Revised and Enlarged Edition Complete in One Volume, November 1957, by Fr. Stanislaus Woywod and Fr. Callistus Smith, Vol. I, pp. 500f.)

See CBS Lies About the Catholic Church and The Bias in Mainstream Media.

P.S. The Boston Herald today has an article disputing the "cover-up" accusation. (Thanks, Dom.) From the Latin original, I see that the correct name (incipit) of the document is, indeed, Crimen Sollicitationis.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 08/08/03 12:21:20 PM
Categorized as Most Notable & Religious.