PENANCE 171 



such permission be restricted to the penitent's own sins, 

 (exclusively, say, of the sins of an accomplice) and no 

 detriment is likely to accrue therefrom to the sanctity of 

 the Sacrament; provided, furthermore, that no scandal 

 be given. 



Should a penitent wish to consult his confessor outside 

 the confessional in regard to something mentioned in 

 confession, the confessor may consider this an implicit 

 permission to use his sacramental knowledge. 14 



It is no violation of the seal, though, as a rule, inadvis- 

 able for the confessor to mention previously confessed 

 sins in a later confession. 15 



The confessor may, if he sees fit, add something to his 

 admonition, immediately after absolution, before the peni- 

 tent leaves the confessional, and this without special per- 

 mission of the penitent, because of the moral union with 

 the confession just made. 



When a priest is in doubt whether information that falls 

 under the seal has come to him through confession or by 

 some other channel, he is obliged to observe the secretum 

 sacramentale. 19 



4. The Object of the Seal. — The obliga- 

 tion of keeping secret knowledge gained through 



14 Cfr. Linsenmann, Lehrbuch der quidem verbum facere poenitenti 

 Moraltheologie, p. 222. circa ea, quae ad eius confessionem 



15 Cfr. Gury, Comp. Theol. Mot., pertinent, sine ipsius licentid. Ex- 

 II, n. 499: "An confessarius possit cipe, nisi ipse poenitens prior de 

 loqui cum poenitente de ipsius con- sua conscientia loquatur vel nisi 

 fessione? (1) Potest loqui in con- confessarius certo sciat, id poeni- 

 fessione de omnibus confessionibus tenti gratum fore." 



praeteritis. (2) Potest etiam loqui 16 Cfr. St. Alphonsus, Theol. 



post absolutionem, antequam poeni- Mor., 1. VI, n. 633; Gury, Comp. 



tens discesserit vel si redierit. Ra- Theol. Mor., II, n. 497: "Confessa- 



tio est, quia licet completum sit rius ad sigillum tenetur etiam in 



sacramentum, tamen iudicium adhuc dubio, an aliquid dictum sit a poeni- 



moraliter perseverat. (3) Non pot- tente in ordine ad confessionem." 

 est extra sacrum tribunal ne ullum 



