304. Which sins must be confessed?
(Comp
304) All grave sins not yet confessed, which a careful examination of
conscience brings to mind, must be brought to the sacrament of Penance. The
confession of serious sins is the only ordinary way to obtain forgiveness.
“In brief”
(CCC 1493) One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God
and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he
remembers after having carefully examined his conscience. The confession of
venial faults, without being necessary in itself, is nevertheless strongly
recommended by the Church.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 1456) Confession to a priest is an essential part of
the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which penitents after a
diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in
confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the
last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more
grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly"
(Council of Trent (1551): DS 1680 (ND 1626); cf. Ex 20:17; Mt 5:28). When
Christ's faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they
undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who
fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine
goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, "for if the
sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot
heal what it does not know" (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1680 (ND 1626);
cf. St. Jerome, In Eccl. 10, 11: PL
23:1096).
On reflection
(CCC 1455) The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from
a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with
others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty
of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and
to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible.
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